Discipline!

 

For anyone reading this blog, please be aware that I write these for me--and for Jim and for our memories.  The Blog2Print books that I make each January are fun for us to look at and sometimes they act as resources for our confused and cloudy memories.  So this is a blog about the routines of my daily life in the spring of 2023. 

Jim is far more disciplined than I am about exercise. He faithfully takes his morning, afternoon, and evening strolls--getting close to 10,000 steps each day.  I am grateful he does so even if it makes me feel inadquate at times.  I want him to stay healthy and walkiing like he does is a great way to keep that goal. I tease him that he is a one man neighborhood watch because he seems to know what is going on in our complex and reports it to me when he gets home. 

 I have set some limited goals and am trying to be disciplined about them. I need to keep moving and I want to lose a few more pounds to avoid diabetes.   And just as I did for our kids when they were young, I have made myself charts and I count my small achievements. I have not given myself stickers!  I don't enjoy longer walks because they give me back strain and I just want to sit down. Sometimes my arthritic left hip gives in although preventative Aleve helps with that pain. Four years ago our South Bend doctor told me I would need a hip replacement in one to four years.  I have far less problems with it now than I did then when we were in the midst of our big move. 

What are these goals?   Taking the steps to our second floor apartment--my goal is six times daily including two or three times before breakfast to get my metabolism going  Taking short walks--I walk to the "ugly tree" along the road in the afternoon and back and forth outside our apartment in the evening.  I especially like this evening stroll.  Sometimes the sky is still pink in the West and there is one familiar star or planet that looks down on me.  The air seems more perfumed at night. The easiest goal to achieve is sitting on the deck for a few minutes and soaking up vitamin D while practicing some mindfulness with breath prayers.  

So my small goals are usually achievable.  And I hope there are good results.