Hopefully, you have some "personal bests" that you keep track of and try and beat every once in awhile. For example:
- My best time during a 5K walk.
- How long I logged my daily food intake before I had a wild weekend of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".
- How many days in a row exercising...
You get the picture. However, I've got some silly personal bests I want to beat, and here's one:
These shoes have been walked in every day for 183 days. (I didn't wear them walking in Mexico during my 14-day trip there--I wore a newer pair of Monkey Toe shoes.)
As you can see, they're wearing thin in spots. Sometimes, I can really feel the ground. Like, really really. I've got 4 other pair upstairs in my closet, waiting to be used, but there's something about these shoes--I really just want to see how long I can wear them before they blow out a sidewall.
I want to bust through, break through, I want to be walking and yell "Holy cr#p! That hurt! Dang it!"
It's silly, I know. I just want to do it.
Sort of like I wanted to see if I could walk 365 days in a row.
Smoochies,
Dani
I could write for hours about why kids (and adults!) today cannot focus, nor pay attention. You don't need me to point out things like media overload, the bizarre belief of new parents that they have to keep their child entertained 100% of the time, the entitled belief of those children, once-grown, that they deserve to be entertained 100% of the time...shall I go on?
Okay, I won't. You get it. And even though I'd love it if we all unplugged a little more, there's something simple you can add to your child's life to help them focus.
Remember how, when you were little, you learned that eating breakfast helps you pay attention in school?
Yeah.
There's a new study out, and although it began with the intention to prove the effect of eating breakfast AND lunch on pupils' ability to concentrate, it turned up a surprising finding:
Walking or biking to school improved the pupils' concentration up to 4 hours after they got to school.
The study findings revealed that children who are driven to school, or
those who took public transport, have lower scores in tests that measure
concentration levels compared to those walked or cycled to school.
Whoa, dude!
If you don't move your body on the way to school, you'll be like "Whoa, dud!" instead, right?
Do you think this could apply to grown-ups, and work, as well?
Der.
I like to move it, move it,
Dani
Well, boys and girls, it's Cyber Monday.
It's like we're living in the future, with The Jetsons.
Sigh.
This is the holiday season, as it were, and it's time to weigh in.
No, not weigh in on your bathroom scale, although that seems to be a prevalent topic of conversations this time of the year:
Sea-Salt Fudge? Oh, I really shouldn't! I think I've gained five pounds this holiday!
Another potluck at work? Oh, boy!
Of course we need to open another bottle! (That one was me.)
What I mean by "weighing in" is not about the size of your butt or gut, but rather the weight and worth of those things we find ourselves faced with during this time of year.
That potluck, for instance. How will it feel later to eat everything you see on the table? How will it feel to eat just the few things that really look decent, and leave the rest for the hoi polloi?
See? You WEIGH the choices against the results and go from there.
Staying up late to get everything done versus just tackling what you can that day, trusting that everything that needs to get done will, and taking 30 minutes to sit by the fire and read a book? Weigh how it will make you feel.
Neglecting your fresh air and exercise time in order to fulfill those holiday demands on your time.
How will it feel to skip your walk?
How will it feel to take 20 minutes and get some fresh air and you time?
I like how it sounds so I'll say it again. Hoi polloi.
Take it easy,
Dani
