Blogging is hard. Getting my thoughts in order long enough for me to share them with you is difficult especially at this time of year when its such a busy season! In all honesty a lot of it has to do with the fact that I go through phases of being inspired to write. I'm sure all kinds of authors go through this, in fact I think they call it 'writer's block', but the truth is that sometimes I am just lazy. Those who know me know that its rare that I'm not thinking about anything and even more rare that I'm not talking about it if I am thinking something. When I miss a few days on the blog its usually because I can't seem to motivate my lazy rear end to sit down and type a few lines in this pretty white space! I know what my problem is and I am working on it. I am no longer sucked in by endless hours of surfing or viewing things on social networks but I do need to develop some discipline even in regards to this hobby of mine. There are so many verses in the bible referring to discipline. I have always known that it was something that was required of ME and no one else and up until recently I just simply have not applied myself to the task of developing a sense of it. Horrifying as that is to admit, its true! I up until very recently was an extremely undisciplined individual.
I bet you're wondering what I decided to do to get myself in the groove of self discipline so that I could receive the many benefits (and there are many) from it. Well here goes:
Step 1 - Pray (warning with this step: be careful what you ask for because you just might get it!!)
Step 2 - Agree to join a 12 week physical transformation program at a local fitness club 6 weeks before Christmas.
Step 3 - Realize that almost everything you ate before is not on their approved list and pack all of it up and remove it from the kitchen
Step 4 - Give that food away to friends and stare at your empty cupboards before realizing you'll have to take a trip to the grocery store in order to find something edible.
Step 5 - Meet with a personal trainer and have him give you a squats and walking lunges workout that makes you want to puke or at the very least play hookie and wait for your spouse at the local Dairy Queen.
Step 6 - Pick a cardio class that you know nothing about the day after your workout and realize that the ENTIRE class is squats and lunges including the warmup!!!
Step 7 - Read labels, learn new recipes, force your kids to try new things they don't like, write every little bit of food that passes through your lips into your journal because they'll be checking it you know!
Step 8 - Bribe the 8 yr old with a monetary reward for trying all the new foods that will be on his plate for the next three months
Step 9 - Develop game plan for surviving the holidays on plain turkey and quinoa and a handful of almonds!!!
I realize a lot of this looks like a cruel form of self punishment and believe me it sometimes feels that way, but we chose to do this program at this time of the year on purpose. We figured if we were forced to make these choices throughout the holidays and managed it all okay then we would be able to do it when things settled down in the new year. (resolutions made for a start time of New Year's Day or a Monday are doomed to fail, if you want to know why that is you'll have to ask me lol).
Not everything that is going on in my life right now was intentional for the purpose of developing self discipline but it sure seems to have come together that way. Hubby and I have been trying to establish a routine for sleeping which includes going to bed and getting up at the same time every day (and at 6am wake up believe me that takes discipline!!) and reading a chapter of our bible together. We're also required on this meal plan to record our meals (all 6 of them) per day which means we have to establish routine meal times as well. Add to that a schedule of 5 days a week at the gym and your plate appears full before even thinking about the kids karate classes and well...homeschooling!! All in all I am enjoying myself. I would prefer not to cringe every time I walk up or down the stairs in my house but for the first little while I think my mantra will have to be "no pain, no gain" (or lose in my case).
I would love to be able to use the excuse that I couldn't blog because my butt was sore from working out but that just wouldn't be true. I have thought about it many times and just not sat down to give you any food for thought! In the spirit of self discipline I will do my best to make a more consistent appearance here. Feel free to send me a message at "my little katie bear AT gmail dot com" (only put in proper email format) and I will try to write about whatever you want to hear because it will help me get my mind rolling again :)
***note, that email address is not my regular contact info it is only for this blog's sake. If you do not have my regular email and are a friend please send me an email to the one listed here and I will send it to you.
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