ONE THIRD DOWN, 2 TO GO

I lay in bed on Sunday night determined not to be thinking about accounting and exams. Instead I thought about the next day being the 30^th of April or the last day of the first third of the year. Wow, a third of the year gone already. I looked back over that time and did a quick assessment of how it had panned out; what I had achieved; what I hadn’t achieved and how I felt about it all.

Here are my high and low lights:

I began the year immersed in study and that didn’t ease up until I walked out of my exam last night exhausted and very happy it was over. There was a period in February/March where the workload was overwhelming and I let my health and fitness slide BIG TIME. This resulted in me falling into a depression and not coping well with work, let alone how exhausted and miserable I felt 24/7.

On the bright side though I recognised this fairly early and was able to fix it through time off work, going back to eating well and moving regularly. Mine was only a brief encounter but gosh it was awful. I really feel for people who suffer long bouts of darkness, hopelessness and feeling overwhelmed by it all.

On the diet and fitness front things have been totally lacklustre.  Overall I’ve felt stuck somewhere between ‘in a rut’ and ‘no man's land’. I started the year working with Hilde from Get Active on Line but when the study became overwhelming my intentions to eat well and train hard disappeared. I bumbled along for a little while forever complaining about my extra kilos blah blah blah yet never doing anything about them. By the end of Easter I felt like a mini whale and desperate to feel more like an eel, I did something I said I’d never do again – I gave more money to the weight loss industry. For a week I was all fired up, motivated to the max … you know how it goes … and then my boy’s birthday was here, as was my MIL from Queensland and it was all about the food and the wine and who could be bothered dieting.

I don’t want this post to sound like a big whinge but its hard to write upbeat and positive when you’re not happy with stuff but that stuff is within your control. Yet when I’m rational and honest with myself, I know for me it comes back to habits and actions as opposed to deep seated emotional issues. Sure, I eat when I’m stressed and in other ‘emotional situations’ but I could just as easily choose NOT to eat then. I’ve done it before so what’s stopping me from doing it again? What’s that saying … “old habits die hard?” You bet!!

Ok now I’ll stop playing that old broken record because its time to move on and that’s what I’m doing. Today is the start of a new month, a new ‘third’ (of the year) and maybe a new attitude. Well that’s my intention anyway. I have a 3 week break before my next module starts and although I want to enjoy a couple of lunches with girlfriends and a dinner out to celebrate my exam result – I also plan to commit to moderation and consistency with food and training with a purpose. The plan is to start my marketing module in a better place both physically and mentally. I’m sure I can do it.