Every year about now I spend time making a list of goals that I want to achieve in the coming months. I have personal goals, financial goals, spiritual goals, you name it. I pour over this list for a week or two, massaging it and committing to put it into place. Then I never look at it again.
2005 was no exception.
As I begin this annual ritual for the New Year, I realize there is one difference. Without a lot of focus on it, I have changed my approach to exercise in 2005. And that wasn’t even on my list in the first place.
Last February I started regular stretching exercises. Then, on March 13, I decided to walk a mile every day for a year. I’d read that walking briskly and not changing anything else about one’s routine could result in a weight loss of about ten pounds over the course of the year. A mile a day doesn’t take a lot of time, doesn’t require going to a gym, and doesn’t need any extra equipment with the exception of good shoes. From time to time, I reported my progress in this space.
Then, as anyone who reads my blog regularly knows ad nauseum, the Great Bathrooms Remodeling Project began in earnest on October 3. We had no showers for eight weeks; I mean, in our house. Instead we went to the health club, ostensibly to bathe.
But, I decided, why not take advantage of the situation and do some body remodeling at the same time? So I did. I’ve lost about six pounds; and, although it isn’t the promised ten (I’m still walking, only on a treadmill), it’s a start. March 13 is a ways off yet.
The irony is that without thinking of a fitness goal, I’ve implemented one. My clothes fit better, I have more energy, and am more flexible. And it didn’t take a lot of mental pushing either. I think I’ll give up on plotting a list of goals this year and just go do it. Whatever “It” turns out to be.
Leave a Reply