Because I'm making it mine...

"Well there's a bridge and there's a river that I still must cross
As I'm going on my journey
Oh, I might be lost

And there's a road I have to follow, a place I have to go
Well no-one told me just how to get there
But when I get there I'll know
Cuz I'm taking it

Chorus:
Step By Step, Bit by Bit,
Stone By Stone (Yeah), Brick by Brick (Oh, yeah)
Step By Step, Day By Day, Mile by mile (ooh, ooh, ooh)

And this old road is rough and ruined
So many dangers along the way
So many burdens might fall upon me
So many troubles that I have to face

Oh, but I won't let my spirit fail me
Oh, I won't let my spirit go
Until I get to my destination
I'm gonna take it slowly cos I'm making it mine " Whitney Houston Step by Step



I was complaining to Shelley today that the combination of injuries, loss of my pharmacy job, stress etc that I was feeling rather rudderless about the direction my life was headed from fitness goals to earning a buck. So after I hung up, I grabbed the girls and headed for the local pool. I took a black Nikko pen, a few big sheets of scrap paper and a bottle of Diet Coke (kidlet watching is very thirsty work) and drew up a list of options - look for another pharmacy job, look for an exercise physiology job, look for more classes - when it dawned on me - why work for someone else when you can work for yourself? I realize that this is no new observation for many people and that indeed I have worked (and still work) for myself, although I've intentionally dialled back the coaching this year. Yes, I'm going to continue online coaching (with some changes), but I'm going to take a big leap of faith like Katie and have faith that my penmanship will lead me to a place of prosperity and inner peace.

Whilst I would love nothing more than to set some health and fitness goals for the New Year or do an "Operation Hot Mama", it's not going to happen. The events of this year(both fitness and non fitness related) have created a paradigm shift in my thinking. Not that I believe that being lean and healthy is a dishonourable goal, far from it - but it's the thinking behind it that has changed for me, possibly driven by my injuries.

What I seek to do with life is to honour myself (mind- body- spirit) with the choices I make when I move, when I eat, when I rest and when I work. From a practical perspective, my days of lifting really heavy stuff have come to an end, but I will continue to practise some resistance training as I heal. My intuition has me heading to the pool and onto the bike next year as well as taking in the delights of Cathe's latest series "Shock Cardio".

What I've learned about nutrition is that most of the information out there is pretty suspect to say the least. An intake of mainly whole foods and the odd treat here and there keeps most people happy. The pre training meal is more important than the post training one. Nutrient timing is only for people with too much time on their hands. If the basics are right, then you're probably OK.

So plenty going on in my world. I can't wait to see how it all pans out. I just hope God's not going to laugh at my next plan (ie I got it right!)

I love it when a plan comes together!

Who remembers the "A-Team", way back when.  This is where one of my favourite quotes comes in " I love it when a plan comes together!"

I've been wrestling for awhile with the concept of getting the old work life balance right for me - like many of us, I've been trying to find what I want to say YES to because as DG tells me, saying "yes" to something means saying "no" to something else.  I have a tendency to allow myself to become really overloaded, trying to help so many people out that anything I do of value gets diluted.

I've been to-ing and fro-ing in my mind about what exactly I wanted to do when suddenly a few ideas hit me and I started feeling genuinely excited about "what could be" down the track.

Without sounding too mysterious, I'm planning on revamping and changing the nature of my coaching business over the next few months - I've  been mulling over this for awhile now - so watch this space as I make some changes!   

I also mentioned a few months ago changing over to Wordpress - this I am going to put into action shortly, so like Miss Katie, I'm going to try and do some blog renovation.

Thirdly, even if I am asked, I am not going to do any more pharmacy locums than what I am already doing.  I need to set my boundaries more.  Family and fitness first for me.

Fourthly, I really want to take my strength training up to a new level.   I have been having a wonderful time training with Shelley and it's really motivating seeing both of us improving - I've always been a real loner on the training front (due to previous training experiences where I'd get really annoyed with my training partner for not pushing hard enough etc) and it is just so fantastic that we're in sync when it comes to our goals of being lean and superfit chicks as well as being f*ckin massive, all rolled into one.

Hmm, what else?  The house building started officially this week.  Our land, which was barren on Monday has turned into a hive of activity over the last week with the footings for the slab going down and the water tank going in (we got one of those nifty 'buried' jobs), on today's brief inspection, there were several pallets of bricks on the block.   The slab is going to be elevated just over a metre in parts to allow us to maximize the views of the city (yes, we've got city views, am I excited much?).

Living in the Neon

I've been inspired by Bodystep 76's Peak Track song "Living in the Neon". Today was literally another day of being a girl who gets it done! As I mentioned in my last post I have picked up a pharmacist job where I am working every Monday from 10.00am until 6.30pm.

My day looked like this:
5.30am Rise and Shine - make kids and hubby's lunches
6.30am Have a bowl of oats and powder and a cup of tea ...ah that's better!
6.50am Wave goodbye to hubby
7.00am Prep all meals for today and prep dinner for tonight, down to the last carrot (nothing worse than getting home, being ravenous and chowing down on cereal (uh, guilty as sin, but no more!)
7.45am: Walk girls to school and walk home
8.15am: Do RPM 43 at home - this is what's going to be on the teaching playlist this week, me thinks followed by a conditioning circuit with my kettle bell, some mountain climbers, squat thrusters and push ups.
9.15am: scramble some eggs and have a truckload of veggies - much easier to eat at home than explain why you eat so much to the peeps at work
10- 6.30pm : work
7pm: dinner (all prepped ..yahoo)
7.15-8.30pm: computer work
8.30pm Watch "Desperate Housewives" with hubs - it's my weekly "guilty pleasure".

Tomorrow is more of the same - I'm doing a one day locum ("fill in") - meals all logged and planned.

Today was successful - I didn't get all of RPM done or do as many circuits as I wanted to, but the main thing was - I did something!

I am so proud of myself

I am so proud of myself because I have worked out (and almost prepped!) an entire week of meals and workouts. Anyone who knows me well tends to also know that I fly by the seat of my pants with this sort of thing and it actually makes me feel uncomfortable. I feel really good about organizing the week ahead and I'm hoping that it cuts down on that dreaded anxiety of "what the hell is for dinner?" I was feeling despondent last night that I wasn't organized enough and I made a small list to get through today. I'm pleased to say that I've nearly achieved all of it! I guess the secret is in not writing a huge list and being pleased with small accomplishments.

Workout wise, I'm going to do the "Break In" program of the "New Rules of Lifting". I am hoping that the Room of Requirement will be open as the building is for sale and I'm hoping to be able to use it this week. If not, I am sure that I can substitute my exercises around and find a happy medium. I'm going to rest Bodymax 2 this week and try some other Cathe's again.

No exercise today as Miss G is still a bit under the weather. I'm looking forward to tomorrow though!

Flipping the Universe

"You make plans and God laughs"........

This is a theme that seems to have resonated through our married life, yet DH and I are talking about trying to establish a rough long term plan. That being, how we are charting our course in life and where we want to go, do and be in the next few years. I am beginning to become painfully aware of planning a solid financial future and if we want to be able to do things later on we need to look at where we are going now. I know, spoken like a true "j" , but I really like to have some sort of rough plan happening whether it be in my fitness life or in my home life etc etc. I am lucky that the storms DH and I have weathered lately have brought us closer together - we tend to thrash things out until they can be thrashed no more.

With the planning aspect exercise wise, I generally have a long term goal that is more global in nature and usually go week by week towards it. Miss G is still unwell, so I have had 2 unplanned rest days in a row, which means I am raring to go now. I'm thinking of two very solid strength training sessions, 3 tough cardio sessions and 3 moderate cardio sessions.

Anyway, rather than stare at a blank piece of paper with "plans" written on it, I'd better go make some of them a reality.