My original goals are listed in the previous post, but my intentions have shifted again this year. I was going strong with the previous goals until Spring Break, when I had to drive to a cabin in Colorado and needed my phone for directions. If I had ridden there with the rest of my family, I wouldn’t have needed the iPhone Map app, but I can’t drive in the mountains, read directions, and read a map when I am the solo occupant of my vehicle.
I decided that I would reactivate my smart phone to have a navigation system, and then I decided that it too much of a hassle to switch phones again. I also have a rekindled desire to create the Plastic Toothpick Podcast that I was going to make during the school year this year, back when I had high hopes of taking master’s education classes and starting a podcast, before I knew that my particular students would take every fiber of my being, every single day.
In order to start a podcast, I have to some means of sharing that podcast, so along with reactivating my iPhone, I am also back on social media. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. As soon as I finish my first podcast, I’ll post here about it, but it will likely be some time in June.
Since I had to renege on my old goals, I figured I’d finish out the year with these:
- Swim, bike, walk, or run every single day. Run Twin Cities Marathon in October.
- Read at least one book each month.
- Meditate for 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening.
- Practice silence and listening, with intention.
- Eat mostly real food.
- Create more, consume less.
I’d also like to make a new goal of actually writing in this space more frequently than once every several months, because my writing chops need a brush up. At any rate keep watching this space for more to come.
When I last wrote, I was in the middle of the Whole 30, and I was incredibly positive about it. I am still very pleased with my experience in those 30 days, because I lost 17 pounds, which I have kept off for three months now. Don’t get me wrong; I am not a person who is obsessed with losing weight at this point in my life. I have been that person before, because I didn’t see any worth in myself in the body I am in. I am more interested, at this point in my life, in treating my body like a beautiful machine that carries my soul across the finish line.
My body positivity that I am experiencing at nearly 45 years of age has been a long time coming. I credit much of my newfound joy in my own skin to several podcasts that I listen to and to several athletes who don’t let their larger bodies hold them back. Sometimes in my life—like when I started running almost 12 years ago—I have felt like I was the only fat person trying to be an athlete, and that can really wear on a person. But thanks to Mirna Valerio, Martinus Evans, and Latoya Shauntay Snell, I have a renewed joy in and love for my own body. I promise that anytime you feel overwhelmed or like you don’t belong running with thinner people on the trail, track, or road, these folks will absolutely rekindled your confidence.
I’m ready to run.
Reason Breeds Insanity 