Planted: nothing, too
cold and running out of room!
Wrote: learning stories,
two portfolio reflections, chapters for the book, a blog entry
Discovered/ learnt/ wondered:
passive sentence structures; i tuhia e Tiffany… and memorised the ara reo Māori
karakia
Successes: cracked 10
kilos lost this year, total of over 27 kilos in two years
Struggled with: not
reaching goal weight by the six month mark. SO close! Serious seasonal fitness plateau.
Highlight: Paul’s
birthday
Six months down, six months to go! So far, all in all, I’ve
achieved everything I’ve set out to do. The only thing that hasn’t happened are
the rewards I put down in the plan, but they were the only things that had conditions
attached, anyway. I’ve read books and written prolifically and done a bunch of
physical challenges. I can count on one hand the number of weeks I didn’t reach
my stepping goals, but since I exceed step goals most days it all balances out
in the end!
This month’s goal was walking up St. John’s Hill and down
again. I made this goal because June is (usually) when the cold weather really
starts to kick in, and it’s also when I start getting busy with work for next
wedding season. I needed an activity that was manageable with dodgy weather and
didn’t take up much time, but was still a good challenge.
Well, I managed to fit these trips up the hill three times a week in to a busy schedule in between rain showers, but I did fail with one aspect. It wasn’t the challenge I was expecting it to be! It was a pleasure to find out that I might be physically fitter than I think I am. So what was meant to be a twenty minute cardio burst of exercise a few times a week after a gym session, came to be a leisurely fifteen minute stroll which I used to admire the way the trees were changing and the unique view of my town. Different but equally important rewards. If nothing else, it proved to me that the past six months, at least, has been good for me.
Well, I managed to fit these trips up the hill three times a week in to a busy schedule in between rain showers, but I did fail with one aspect. It wasn’t the challenge I was expecting it to be! It was a pleasure to find out that I might be physically fitter than I think I am. So what was meant to be a twenty minute cardio burst of exercise a few times a week after a gym session, came to be a leisurely fifteen minute stroll which I used to admire the way the trees were changing and the unique view of my town. Different but equally important rewards. If nothing else, it proved to me that the past six months, at least, has been good for me.
So I stand by what I wrote in my last blog, I’m finding
winter really hard. It seems to be affecting everything, from how much I exercise
to what I eat to how I want to interact with the world. But I’m half way and
have achieved pretty much every goal. July brings me a squat challenge that I’ve
done before and know I can achieve. August brings me a book. How hard can the
rest of the year be? The weather will start to get warmer soon, and I will keep
reminding myself that the way I feel right now is as much environmental as it is
emotional and physical. This is the beginning of the downward slope, leading me
right to the finish line!
