Happy Boxing Day!

In various countries all over this beautiful blue planet today, people are queuing up to sort out those last little holiday trifles.  In Europe, stores open early and banks are closed in recognition of this day of goodwill.  In ye olde tymes, Boxing Day was a day to give gifts to those in need or in service positions.  It has since become a shopping day, akin to the US Black Friday, where shoppers can score sweet deals on some sweet merch.

Here in the States, Boxing Day takes on a whole different meaning.  I’m spending the day cleaning up Lego boxes and Amazon boxes and clothing boxes torn apart by eager little hands.  I’m packing up red and green boxes with ornaments and decorations to be stored until next year while demolishing little gold boxes of chocolate.  I’m reboxing items that need to go back to the store; duplicate presents from liked minded friends who know us so well.  And I can’t help but think it a chore.  Grumble all the way.

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And this is what won’t fit in the recycling bin.

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Two sets of wireless headphones. They know me so well.

The sheer enormity of what needs to be done to get my house, and my health, back in order is daunting.  All I want to do is drink wine and binge watch National Lampoon movies.   I love Christmas.  I’ve watched Love Actually four times this week.  I’ve indulged in sugar cookies and macaroni and cheese and fine alcoholic beverages.  I’ve enjoyed out of town friends and family immensely and laughed until my belly ached.  But today I’m suffering from a holiday hangover.  I haven’t been to the gym in a week, I need a sugar detox and quite frankly, I’ve been buzzed since Monday.  And it’s not even over yet!  I still have to make it through New Years.

I’ve been supposedly involved in this Holiday Health Challenge at my gym.  And I’ve completely let my team down because I have fallen off the wagon in a big way.  I’ve been so good at monitoring myself throughout this year.  I’ve felt healthy and strong and proud of my accomplishments.  In one short week, I’ve given in to this sluggish, lazy, gluttonous routine that I know I need to leave behind but I just can’t find the energy to start.

How, my fitness family, do you avoid the three signs of the apocalypse: sugar, bread, and alcohol?  I am perfectly fine with indulging on this special occasion, but now that it’s winding down, my biggest obstacle is figuring out how to stop.  I have a half-marathon in two weeks!   “Just get back on track”, they say.  Easier said than done, Pinterest.

I need some out of the box ways to get motivated.  How do you recover from the holidays?  Share with me your wisdom, internet world!

2 thoughts on “Happy Boxing Day!

  1. Thankfully I only have one duplicate gift this year – Santa and my inlaws both got Pooks the same video game. Thank goodness Amazon is cool with the returns. We also got a malfunctioning coffee maker, which is very sad because when you withhold coffee from us, bad things happen.

    I need to work myself back into the fitness groove too. And really, the best way that I’ve found to do that is just bite the bullet and GO BACK. That’s what I did this morning with my visit to the gym and while it wasn’t the best, it didn’t automatically suck either. I was glad to get back into a routine and I was even more glad that my trainer was in Florida.

    I can’t wait to hear about the Star Wars half!!!

  2. My way of getting back into the fitness groove is two fold.

    First I do a quasi-fast. I call it a “quasi” fast as I only eat when I’m really, really hungry (I try to push it as long as I can) and when I do eat, I have healthy stuff at the ready to nosh on and I only eat enough to negate the hunger pangs. Doing this after an indulgent few days of eating helps me reconnect with my hunger signals and break the habit of mindless munching.

    The other thing I do is similar to Mer–go back to the gym and re-establish that fitness routine. After about a week off, I went back to the gym yesterday and got in a slow and steady 5 miles with one of my run clubbers–made all the difference in the world! 🙂

    Good luck in getting back into action and kicking but at Star Wars.

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