Tag: #FitReaders

• This check-in is for July 27th – August 2nd.
• My mental and physical health hasn’t been great this week, but I’m getting better. Maybe it would be better to say that I’m recovering.
• Yesterday, I went outside for a walk. The weather was perfect, and getting out of the house for something that didn’t involve work or running errands felt really good. It gave me the energy to continue packing, and I got quite a bit of my stuff and many more of my books boxed up.

• Exercise Days: 2/7
• Steps: 34,613
• Miles: 14.04/16.31
• Total Miles: 462.28/850
• Zone Minutes: 45/150

• This check-in is for July 20th – 26th.
• I’ve been approved for the two-bedroom townhouse apartment and will be moving in September. As I mentioned yesterday, my perspective about this whole move shifted a bit when I discovered the amount of modern-style home decor that also is covered in dinosaurs! I also re-realized the freedom that comes with living alone. It’s been over a decade since I’ve been on my own, and I’m having to relearn how to do a few things, but I know I’ll be alright.

• Exercise Days: 1/7
• Steps: 40,007
• Miles: 16.21/16.31
• Total Miles: 448.24/850
• Zone Minutes: 42/150

• This check-in is for July 13th – 19th.
• I spent most of my free time this week looking for an apartment, and I submitted my application for a two bedroom townhome on Friday.
• The apartment search and discovering all of the household stuff I’ll need to buy (after my ex and I did a walk-through of the house to divvy up our belongings) left me feeling exhausted physically and emotionally. I decided not to do anything else related to moving for the weekend so I could rest and relax.
• A coworker and his wife are expecting a baby, so I began crocheting a baby blanket while listening to an audiobook as part of my relaxation. I’m planning to work on the blanket a bit more today, and hopefully finish the audiobook, too.

• Exercise Days: 1/7
• Steps: 37,809
• Miles: 15.35/16.31
• Total Miles: 432.03/850
• Zone Minutes: 37/150

• This check-in is for July 6th – 12th.
• As I mentioned in yesterday’s “Building the Book Fort,” my relationship of 12 years ended last weekend and I will be moving to my own place in the coming months. This somewhat sudden major life change put me in a lot of pain, both emotional and physical, but right now, in this moment, I’m doing OK.
• I went to the Columbus Book Festival yesterday. Though the festival was expanded, I think there were even more people than last year, and the lines for just about everything were still very long. The one author panel I was really looking forward to had a line that wrapped around the inside of the library (which, for my readers who have never been there, is massive) and I knew there was no way I was going to get a seat or even a place to stand before the auditorium was full. Since I had been on my feet most of the day, and was exhausted, I decided to go home and skip the last author panel I had planned on seeing. I left at just the right time and beat the traffic of everyone leaving for the day. I also got home right when a thunderstorm was rolling in. Overall, it was a good day, though. I bought three books, a few stickers to put on my water bottle, a pack of “Bookworm Bingo” cards, and a notebook with a cover that says “THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS.”
• My plan for the notebook is to start a list of all the things I can and want to do now that I’m not in a relationship. It won’t be a bucket list so much as a reminder list of the advantages of being single. I’m also planning something fun for me to do each month. For instance, in October, I’ll be going to see “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” I don’t have anything planned for August or September yet, so if you have ideas, please leave a comment!

• Exercise Days: 1/7
• Steps: 41,828
• Miles: 16.91/16.31
• Total Miles: 416.68/850
• Zone Minutes: 85/150

• This check-in is for June 29th – July 5th.
• My life has been turned upside down and shaken vigorously. I’m barely holding it together emotionally, and the stress is causing me some neck and shoulder pain. I’m meditating every day, and doing other things for self-care, so I’m sure I would be an absolute wreck if I hadn’t already established those habits and routines.

• Exercise Days: 3/7
• Steps: 33,693
• Miles: 13.62/16.31
• Total Miles: 399.77/850
• Zone Minutes: 115/150

• This check-in is for June 22nd – 28th.
• This week was much better than last week. Life has calmed down considerably, and I chose to rest as much as possible while I had the space and time to do so.

• Exercise Days: 0/7
• Steps: 37,798
• Miles: 15.31/16.31
• Total Miles: 386.15/850
• Zone Minutes: 45/150

• This check-in is for June 15th – 21st.
• This past week has felt like being stuck in the middle of a whirlwind. It wasn’t tornado-level chaos, but it was definitely stressful, difficult, and exhausting. My boyfriend was out of town, one of the short-term medications I was on to help get my nerve pain under control was causing a bunch of unpleasant side effects, and one of my two cats got sick with some kind of stomach thing.
• One of the biggest things that helped me get through the week was breathing exercises. I still felt on edge and had all of my usual stress responses, but making myself stop periodically to breathe deeply for a few moments kept me from going over that edge into a breakdown. My body is still feeling some side effects from the medication (feeling tense, jumpy, and agitated regardless of what’s going on), but the deliberate, slow breathing is letting my body know that I am not in fact being chased by a wild animal.
• The other thing that helped a lot was the decision to go to a day-long meditation retreat yesterday, even though I thought to myself that I couldn’t possibly take the time to do that with so many other things that needed doing. When I realized I was trying to talk myself out of going to the retreat because of busyness, I knew, barring any real emergency, I HAD to go to the retreat.

• Exercise Days: 0/7
• Steps: 41,258
• Miles: 16.72/16.31
• Total Miles: 370.84/850
• Zone Minutes: 77/150

• This check-in is for June 8th – 14th.
• I’ve been nearly pain free all weekend thanks to the new medications I’m on. I also don’t deal with as much stress on the weekends (as long as I stay away from the news), so I’m sure relaxing, finally getting better sleep (again, thanks to the meds), and taking some much needed time for self-care have all gone a long way towards helping me manage my pain.
• Someone recently told me that our mental health (and really all parts of us, but he was speaking specifically about mental health) is no different than keeping a car. You would never get one oil change in your car and expect it to run well forever more. Cars, just like our mental health, need regular maintenance. I knew that on an intellectual level, but until those words were said, I didn’t truly understand the connection between my struggles with my mental health and my frequent neglect of it. Over the years, any time I started feeling good again, I would stop meditating, journaling, going to therapy, etc., not getting that I was feeling good because I was taking care of myself and not because I was “cured.”
• I take the time and effort to care for my car, my plants, my pets, and anything/anyone else I love, and now I know I deserve and NEED the same level of care for the rest of my life, not just when I’m sick or hurting. That is such a simple truth, and it only took me a couple of decades to learn it.

• Exercise Days: 4/7
• Steps: 39,506
• Miles: 15.95/16.31
• Total Miles: 354.12/850
• Zone Minutes: 53/150

• This check-in is for June 1st – 7th.
• Everything I’ve been doing to try to manage the pain I’m in seems to be at least helping. I’ve had a few pain free hours every once in a while over the past week, and I’m getting a bit more sleep.
• To help me track my symptoms and what I’m doing, I got the Bearable app. So far, it’s already showing me that my pain gets worse when I’ve been stressed, which I suspected.
• Seeing this pain-stress connection in the data, and reading Mind Your Body, has gotten me to truly focus on my self-care, and not just for pain-relief. I’ve suffered from Anxiety and Depression most of my adult life, and I haven’t been great about managing those. So, I’m back to journaling regularly, going to a group, attending to my spiritual health, and reading books that might help me. I will likely start going to see a therapist again, but I’m on the fence about that right now.

• Exercise Days: 4/7
• Steps: 42,997
• Miles: 17.39/16.31
• Total Miles: 338.17/850
• Zone Minutes: 21/150

• This check-in is for May 25th – 31st.
• I’m still dealing with a lot of pain, but yesterday I was determined to go to the Pop Cats convention to see all things cat-related, but also to meet Lydia Sherrer, the author of the “Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus” series. The boyfriend and I had a good time, and I was the happiest I’ve been in a while. Not only did I get to meet Lydia, I also got a pic with her, and I now have signed copies of the last two books in the series. While we were only at the convention for a couple of hours, I had to lay down when we got home, and wasn’t able to do anything else for the rest of the day but rest.
• I checked out Mind Your Body by Nicole J. Sachs from the library, I bought a massage pad, starting taking a supplement that is supposed to help with nerve pain, and I got the Reverse Health 28-Day somatic exercise program, all because I’m getting desperate to alleviate my pain. Medication isn’t working, and while I do have a serious diagnosis that will likely require surgery, it’s two weeks until I get to see a doctor, and I’m struggling to function.

• With my physical and energy limitations in mind, I’ve decided to change “Active Days” to “Exercise Days,” and will track how many days each week I do one of the somatic workouts from the Reverse Health app.

• Exercise Days: 2/7
• Steps: 40,217
• Miles: 16.09/16.31
• Total Miles: 320.78/850
• Zone Minutes: 25/150