I used to have an almost daily blogging habit. Those were also the times that I had to leave the house for work, drive in shitty traffic, sit in a freezing cold office, and work for a horrible human. I had A LOT to say. But of course, things change (thankfully) and now I don’t leave the house for work (nor will I ever again if I can help it) so there’s no traffic (unless I bump into Lovey in the hallway) and I can put on or take off as much clothing as I want (or use a space heater) and my boss is GREAT! So yeah, my life is kinda boring right now. But boring in the best possible way.
I do leave the house once a week to teach my fabulous FabPolers. This past week, on my way home, I’m cruising with the windows down and the music waaaaaay up. I was jamming out to some K7 (Let’s Bang) and singing and dancing. Yes, I’m THAT person in the car and I have no intention of changing. I was sitting at a light in the left hand lane and a car pulls up beside me. I notice out of the corner of my eye that the person is trying to get my attention. Out of concern that something may have been amiss, I rolled down my front passenger window. (Driver and rear passenger were down in case you’re wondering how I was heard/seen) Eye rolling ensues.
Him: *Black man of undetermined origin. Handsome but definitely not my type. Older.* Hi! Can I enjoy the music with you?
Me: Uh, sure. *rolls down window further and turns it up*
Him: *gesturing wildly* I am 941
Me: Oh, nope. I’m married. Not trying to get those digits.
Him: Oh! No, no. This is you?
Me: What?
*longest fucking red light ever*
Him: This song. It is you?
Me:*laughing hysterically* NO! This is not me. The band is called K7.
Him: K7?
Me:Yes.
Him: Ok. Thank you. You have a wonderful day!
Me: You too!
These are the days of my life. I am a magnet for just strange things. Keeps life interesting though, I suppose.
Well, I guess I’m gonna wrap up here. I’m up to get my boobs smashed. See ya!
For sure I’ve used this video before, but when it fits, it fits.
But holy shit, y’all. It’s already February. One twelfth of the year is gone, just like that. See, if you were doing New Year’s Resolutions, you might be stressed out about that thought. BUT, if you’re doing New Day Resolutions, that fraction don’t mean a damn thing.
As you may recall from my last post of a month ago (insert eye roll here), I have five NDRs. Through January, I did some, I didn’t do some. But I don’t have a true recollection of how much of any one thing I did with the exception of anything that got captured on the ‘Gram.
Because I like charts and graphs and coloring and because it might also help make the NDRs into habit, I printed a, wait for it, habit tracker. It’s perfect because it only has space for five things and five is all I’m good for. By no means am I using it to cause stress on myself or try to guilt myself into doing things. Am I going to enjoy coloring in the rectangles? Sure! Am I gonna be overly concerned if I miss one? Nope!
At least if I’m tracking what I’ve done, perhaps on March 1 I’ll then be able to look back at today and see improvements and I’ll be able to correlate that progression with time spent and effort exerted. The nerd level is pretty high but that’s just how I function.
Also how I function…my brain all over the place. Why, when I have gotten absolutely nowhere on the first three books in my head is there now a fourth idea swimming around in there?!?! I gotta stop manifesting ideas and start manifesting more fingers on keys.
Perhaps that’s how I’ll accomplish my daily writing goals. It doesn’t need to be a blog post every day. Let’s face it. We’re in a pandemic. There simply isn’t that much interesting going on in my life…or anyone else’s for the most part. So I’ll pick a random number out of the sky (or it won’t be random) and say, “Self, sit down and write 500 words in one of those four books.” And Self will do it. Part of my writing struggle is continuing to tell myself that I have to write a book from start to finish. Duh. It’s my book. I can write it however I want. Go ahead and write those parts that keep popping up in your head and save them. Then weave them together and quit fucking around!
Sometimes, you gotta give your damn self a pep talk.
Honestly, I don’t know why I never thought of writing in chunks before. What is wrong with me?!?! Well, it’s out there now so I can move forward.
Hey now! I’m done writing for today and I’ve hit 3 of my 5 NDRs. Considering that one of them (stretching) isn’t on the calendar until 8pm, I’m having a damn fine day. See ya soon.
It’s been a long time. Shouldn’t have left you. Left you without a FUCKING PRESIDENT for the last four years. Oops. I got a little excited there. But yeah. America. Dust yourself off and try again.
Ok, ok, the country on fire isn’t what I wanna write about today.
Did you make New Year’s resolutions (NYR)? I did not. Eff that madness. I’m all about New DAY resolutions (NDR). I’m all about knowing how I work. It’s been 47 years so I think I have it mostly worked out. I know that I’ll fail at NYR before the end of January so why would I set myself up for that?!?! Why would you? Why would anyone?
I suppose if I were making NYR, it would look something like lose 10 pounds, have a better handstand, write a book, get better with my flow toys, and be a better person. LOLOLOLOL, right? It’s so general. And so many people try to run their NYR that way and then in January of the next year wonder where they went wrong. I’m trying to break out of that rut with the NDR.
I’ve spent enough time in Corporate America hell to know how to set goals. SMART ya heard. That’s specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound if you haven’t heard the spiel. What I listed before as NYR – not SMART. I tried to make my NDRs SMART. I guess really that I have five mini goals to get to my big daily goal of finishing my tasks. Every day, five quests upon which to journey on my way to GoalLand.
Exercise or do yoga – 30 min min, 60 min max
Meditate – 5 min min
Practice handstands – 5 min min, 10 min max
Write/blog – however long it takes to expel the word vomit
Flow (rotate through the poi, wand, hoop, fan, pole through the week) – 10 min min, no max
Those five things don’t seem like a lot of things and they aren’t. But like I said, I know how I am. I need to build a habit before I add something else to the mix. So I’m not stressing myself if I don’t make it to GoalLand every day. I know I won’t get to a blog post every day. We’re in the middle of a pandemic so I don’t really leave the house much. I love my home life, but there simply isn’t that much that happens that would merit a blog post. Of course I have a book of writing prompts and I thought I might combine the week of prompts or just pick one to do for the week and if I like more than one, I would write more than one post. Nooooo pressure on me. No pressure = I start enjoying writing again. I’m really hoping that happens because as I’ve said before, I have books in my head that need to get out.
The exercise/yoga is the easiest one. I’ve been in that habit for over ten years. I’ve been a fan of the BeachBody programs since the P90X days. They keep me (mostly) focused and typically produce results. The fasted workout is how I start my weekdays. Saturdays get studio time (and also counts for flow for the day). Sundays are for rest. Or golf. Or a hike. But I try to rest a day. I’m 47, remember?
Is the best way to get out of your head by going into your head? I hope so since I’m adding this mediation goal. Hubby’s job offered up a Headspace subscription so duh, of course I’m gonna take advantage of that. And the guy has a great accent so it’s pleasant to listen to him.
Acouplafew years ago, I had a really strong handstand game but for whatever reason, I fell out of my practice. I want those stripes back and the only way to get them is to put in the work. I know you’re looking at those numbers and thinking that 5 to 10 minutes doesn’t equal putting in the work, but I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong. WRONG. When I first started self-teaching this, that’s all I would do. Go out there and give it a shot for 5 to 10 minutes. As I got a little stronger, I started going to workshops to learn more. And although every workshop lasted no less than 60 minutes, we were never on our hands for all of that time. The constraints I had instinctually placed on myself turned out to be the knowledge passed on of not doing hour upon hour of handstand work at a time. Wrists aren’t made for that sort of pressure, so you gotta ease em into it. Like anal.
Ahh the flow toys. I think it started when I won a hoop on Instagram and snowballed pretty fast from there. Then I needed another hoop. Ooh, look a wand…it’s like magic. Oh, hey, where are my old poi? One more hoop won’t hurt. LED lights for the end of my wand?!?! Yes please! Yeah, I need twin hoops for doubles. Hey Christmas! Thanks, hubby! LED poi! So yeah, that’s kinda how it went. Now I have a lot of toys and I’m working to get better at them all. Nope. Never one at a time. All the things, all the time.
Those are the things. Accomplishing them all in one day gets me a ticket to GoalLand. For all intents and purposes, we are through the first week of the year and I have yet to get that golden ticket. I’m ok with that. I feel pretty good about getting four out of five by February. Change takes time, folks. You don’t have time? I bet you have more time now than you would next year when you’re looking back saying you shoulda started then.