Planted: capsicum
seedlings (from a capsicum!), cauli, onion, beetroot
Wrote: a wedding, a
chapter for the book, two blogs, notes for te ara reo
Discovered/ learnt/ wondered:
Alice is OLD now, the stairs aren’t that scary, how Audrey keeps getting out of
the pen and into the garden without us knowing! Houdini goat!
Made: Tomato relish, nomnomnom
Successes: half an hour
planking, 8 minutes of that in one day. Three more kilos gone for good.
Struggled with: exhaustion,
illness
Highlight: beach trip on
Valentines day and six hours sleep a night, three nights in a row! Bless you,
Sleep Drops!Well it took until February for my year to really get kicking – January afforded me a slow, leisurely ease-in to 2016. But now we’re in to the swing of things! This month has definitely been all about balance.
First off, planking. Balancing on my toes and elbows for longer and longer periods of time. No big deal, right? Holy heck in a tea-cup, that shit’s hard work! I’ve balanced ten centimetres above the ground for a combined total of half an hour this month, and boy I can feel it!
The planking helped me practice balance in another way, too. Paul and I were going to do the planking challenge, which would have had us do two minute planks by the end of week one and more than five minutes at the end of the month. The other kind of balance this challenge taught me was this; it really is okay to say 'no' to a dare. It’s good to realise that a little of something is great, but a lot can be damaging. It’s good to realise that the fad fitness regimes are not for everyone. And it’s good to realise that too much planking with an unprepared body will mess you up, son!
I also had to try hard to balance commitments. This isn’t
new, by any means, and it’s not a struggle that only I’ve got. We all know the
feeling of being pulled between our commitment to our families, our work, and
our endeavour to retain some sense of personal stability. I feel like I’ve
usually been pretty good at this – the problem is I’ve had to say no. A lot. Often
to things I’d really like to do, too.
As February got busier, giving me a taste of the year to come, I’m reminded how important this is to me and that I mustn’t get caught up on the world’s demand on me to be fully, hopelessly, dangerously engaged. Priorities, I think this is called, and my top priority is a settled life for Alice. Not the plan, not the gym, not my renewed passion for work, but Alice.
As February got busier, giving me a taste of the year to come, I’m reminded how important this is to me and that I mustn’t get caught up on the world’s demand on me to be fully, hopelessly, dangerously engaged. Priorities, I think this is called, and my top priority is a settled life for Alice. Not the plan, not the gym, not my renewed passion for work, but Alice.
I was also forced to take a really good look at the plan and
remind myself that what I’m doing isn’t a diet – of food and weight loss and
life in general – because a diet is temporary. This is fo’ life, yo! And if it’s
for life, it’s going to have to take a back seat sometimes. I got sick this
month and man alive I’ve been tired. Steps took a direct hit. But I had to tell
myself this is okay – can you imagine how much it’d suck for everyone else if I
was on my A-game all the time, blinding the world with my awesome? Lulls in
life is for the greater good! Feeling sucky is all part of it, but if the plan
is solid, if I’m solid in my intentions, I’ll pick it up where I left of;
So! Physical balance, personal balance, and balance in
perspective! What a month!
March brings me the Durie hill steps, and the start of Te
Ara Reo Maori level 4. A pessimistic version of myself may predict that the
summary of next month will be ‘fear’. Oh dear! Watch this space…
