Chronicles of a Late Bloomer

Wanted to drop a quick note, as I am off this morning for another procedure at the hospital. (More follow-up from the surgery that went bad.) If I owe you an email, I apologize and will get to it as soon as I’m able.

I’ve always been a big believer in the power of visualization, manifesting, and daydreaming when it comes to changing your life. This belief was magically confirmed many years ago when, on a New Year’s Eve, I sat down and wrote out a long and flowery description of what I wished my life could look like by the end of the next year. With the exception of having a puppy to cuddle with (that happened about 15 months later, not 12), I was startled to read back through that entry and find that everything I had written had come true. I learned then the power of writing things down. (Lots of people believe in it.) There is a magic to it, and I have seen it happen in my own life.

This magic has been particularly evident this year as I’ve set and achieved goals regarding my weight. And so, as we look forward into a new year, I wanted to take a moment to plan for the near future.

In the next year, I will solve the puzzle of exercise. I will not only take the time to cook good meals, pack my lunch, and celebrate healthy and nutritious foods as I learned to do this year, but I will also move my body more. I will become more strong and more powerful as a result. I will push myself physically past what I believe my limits to be. I will not give up when it is difficult. Oh, sure — I learned to push my limits mentally, emotionally, and spiritually years ago, and I have reaped the benefits in many ways. But this year I will prove to myself that building physical stamina works on the same principle: doing it anyway, even when you think you can’t.

I will establish a working relationship with my body — not just as the pedestal on which my brain sits, but as a vehicle through which I experience the world. I will try new things and accept my weaknesses and start from where I am and be here now and a hundred other psychobabble cliches, if they’ll help me be able to inhabit this new body I’m creating. I’ll stop dreaming and finally do.

In concrete and measurable terms, here is what I plan to achieve by the end of 2009:

1. I will weigh under 227 pounds — taking me from the BMI Obese category into simply Overweight. This will entail losing roughly 1.1 pounds per week, which seems reasonable even if more roadblocks come up.
   
2. I will be able to do 5 standard pushups.
   
3. I will be able to run for at least 20 minutes without stopping.

This entry was posted Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 9:23 am and is filed under Goals. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.