Tag Archives: move

Summer Challenge(s)

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First off, Happy Global Running Day! I swear it was just National Running Day, but I’m not one to argue with the Important Days Calendar. I hope you are celebrating this day with some movement! I’ll be heading off on my three mile training run soon-ish. Probably.

These days I’m having such a great time not setting an alarm and getting out of bed, that I can’t even be upset that this weekend’s long run ended in a sports bra sunburn and that yesterday’s run was more of a walk. It’s summertime and this teacher is tired!

On to the point of this post, however.

On the last day of school our admin team presented us with a challenge: a summer BINGO challenge. My School is a Leader in Me Lighthouse School meaning we teach the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to our students using kid friendly language. We also strive to live by those habits and set examples for our students. This summer, to me, is all about Habit #7: Sharpen the Saw. We spend all school year working hard and not really focusing on ourselves. Sharpening the saw is doing just that.

Our summer BINGO challenge has some cool stuff on it, and I’m excited to get started. I love participating in any type of activity I can earn prizes with. I just really love prizes. I also love challenges and trying new things…for the most part. Here are a few things that are on our BINGO sheet:

-Try and activity that you’ve never done before.

-Go on a family bike ride.

-Write a positive note and mail it to a friend.

-Eat something you’ve never tried before.

-Turn off all electronics, including TV.

-Create a goal for the summer and track it daily.

-Write a list of your unique gifts and talents.

Some others included setting mission statements, cooking and eating as a family, and celebrating goals.

I love this idea because it encompasses all parts of a person, not just the physical.

So far I haven’t completed too many of these, but I’m definitely going to work on it! I’ve started an online Book Club that’s already grown to almost twenty-five people and my anxiety is doing just fine with that, thankyouverymuch. I’ve only got one trip planned so far, but I’m hoping to visit my favorite Florida parks (Disney and Universal, did you think I meant nature?), do some fun things around my house, and just R-E-L-A-X. Oh, there’s also that pesky marathon training thing I signed up to do. How could I forget that?

Summer is the best time to get back to yourself and to find new things that you love. I’d love to hear from you about your summer plans!

Now, I’m off to celebrate Global Running Day!

Eat, Drink, Move, Think : A Pre-Holiday Challenge of sorts

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Sunday post? I know, weird. But I wanted to post about something starting tomorrow, so no time like the present!

Okay, raise your hand if this time of year typically marks a departure from any thought of health, fitness, and weight loss until the new year starts.

*hand up*

Now, raise your other hand if you have found yourself on the other side of a holiday season with 10-15 extra pounds to lose, and a profound wish you’d done it different that year.

*other hand up*

Even if you didn’t raise your hands, if you’ve been stressing how you’re going to stay on track through this holiday season, just know, you’re not alone. The holidays are wonderful, but from a health perspective, they can be difficult. It’s a busy time, sometimes stressful, and with food everything, seemingly non stop.

That’s why this year, I’m challenging myself to take a couple of pre-holiday weeks and get in the zone, and I wanted to invite you all to join me.

We’re keeping it simple, too. Commit to 14 days of focus on four hey objectives, to help ensure that we go into the holiday season strong, and come out on the other side the same way. I promise, this is an easy challenge. Ready? Four objectives.

Eat – Eat food. I mean, we do that every day, right? No specific rules, just try to focus on eating less processed, good food. No eliminations. This isn’t a ‘none of this, none of that’ deal. Just focusing on healthy eating, and make sure you have regular meals and snacks. If you’re following a specific program, and you want to track or count or focus on the specifics of that, that’s cool too.

Drink – Water, specifically. No set number of ounces. No gallon jug with lines. Just drink more water, and cut back on sugary drinks like Starbucks Lattes and Dunkin Hot Chocolates (my personal drugs of choice). Hydration matters, and it’s such a simple thing to achieve, with just a little focus and effort.

Move – Every day. Doesn’t have to be hours and hours, miles and miles. Just get up and move. Every day, even if it’s only for 15 minutes. Enjoy this beautiful time of year with a walk outside. We don’t even have to call it exercise. 🙂

Think – Take 5. Or 10. Slow down. Take a little time for us, every day. Time to think about how we are, how things are going, things we want, and thing we want to change. Take time to appreciate the things we’re thankful for. Meditate. Journal. Sit with our thoughts, with ourselves. Breathe.

That’s it. That’s the whole plan. No tools needed. No special trip to the grocery store needed. No prep work.

I know, this probably seems overly simplistic. But that’s kind of the beauty of it. I’ve got too much going on to do something complicated. And these four things? These are things that so many of us struggle with, and over-think, or avoid thinking about at all, especially this time of year. So, starting tomorrow, for 14 days, these are what I’m focusing on.

Will it help? I think so. I hope so! I guess the only way to know is to give it a try.

Hit me up on Instagram (@bec2point0) if you want some accountability, and use these hashtags: #eatdrinkmovethink #414focus

Healthy Holidays, here we come!