Perspective

I've been thinking a lot about perspective lately. This blog actually started it. After the first post, a friend emailed me and gave me an alternate idea to my exercise plan...if I was aiming for 15 mins a day, why not total that up (105 mins a week) and each time I exercised, subtract from it...and then I might feel less guilt for missing days? It was a great point and I wouldn't have thought of it from where I was looking. (Of course, it got my Type A self thinking I should add up ALL my minutes for the year to get an idea how much a day I averaged to set a higher goal next year...but I digress.)

Then I posted this past weekend about my tough 3 mile walk/run, and how it was harder than the 5 mile one the weekend before. Another friend wrote to congratulate me on my distances. I think she even joked about needing to be in rollerblades herself to go that far :) (Dot, you could do it even without blades, I know it!!) So here, I was disappointed in my effort, while someone else was impressed.

It's interesting to think that while we may be so critical of ourselves, someone else may be impressed. It reminds me of a favorite quote: "To the world, you may only be one person; but to one person, you may be the world." Really drives home how differently we all see everything.

I'm sure you've sensed a common theme in the blog thus far, that I'm trying to be less critical of myself and more positive. For much of my life I've been "cautiously optimistic"...which really means I expected the worst, and if good happened, it was better than I hoped. What I think I'm learning is that our life experience is based strongly on how we see things, and the world seems easier to muddle through when you look at things with a more open mind.

Example: yesterday was day 65 of no activity. You may recall my goal to hit 300 days of activity. So am I freaking out that I've "used all my days off" or even worse, depressed? NO! I have decided to step back, and look at it in a new light. Counting today, we have 42 days left this year (wow!!). That's 6 weeks. I can be active for 6 weeks. Besides, I need it more now than ever. The party season is beginning, and dang it, I like my Christmas cookies and adult beverages. I only owe it to myself to be active and not regain the little I have lost this year.

When I make it to New Year's, I'll be one week short of my longest streak ever (49 days). January was a decently easy month to stay active last year. If it proves the same, I could potentially hit 10 weeks straight. Nice way to kick off the year right!

SO...who's in on the six week challenge with me? Because from my perspective, that's something we can all squeeze in here and there, especially with a little encouragement from each other!

P.S. I just came back from a 19 minute walk. Not much, but still more than the 15 minute minimum :)