Just the other day, I told my daughter – Accept what you are getting with Gratitude, and not with Attitude!
And then patted my own back for saying such golden words!
But whatever you say in anger never sticks! all she would have heard is loud noise and not my words! wisdom down the drain!
Doubt is so much like Weed! It would grow faster everywhere, and would be more resilient than your plants and grass (your other thoughts and ideas)!
I find myself full of doubt every time I am running these days hoping to complete the Parramatta Half Marathon. The body says one thing, and the mind is saying the other, and I know the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Every day is a balancing act, and how long do we need to act for? Something would slip between the gaps and what you do or did would not matter… what you lost would have made all the difference!
I usually try to reward myself with a 711 coffee after a workout, and today wasn’t any different. Like a number of other 711s this one also had an attendant from the Indian SubContinent. His name was Shishir.
Out of curiosity, I asked him if the locals are able to speak his name. And I wasn’t really surprised by the response… They are not. They end up calling him Shi, or ShiShi and some other names. And it’s ok. There are names which are hard to pronounce and this is also not the reason why I am writing this post.
I asked him for the meaning of his name, and he told me something very interesting. His name means Autumn, and he was named Shishir as his father’s name is Vasant (Spring). Shishir follows Basant (after summer but still) and that is one of the reasons why his name is Shishir!
I learnt these two from our ranger who led our bush walk this weekend. Me and my son were at a Scouts Camp (I’ll write about that sometime later maybe).
So, the two rules:
Now while this is golden for bush walking and taking care of our environment, this is so true for life in general as well. Think about it?
Alright… Ignore the blessings bit for a while, but let’s talk about steps first! I have been monitoring my steps for a few years now and have had really good days and poor ones too… However after a while steps became a part of my daily routines, and I did not really have to make any special efforts to get to (about) 10000 steps a day! the days I was going to office, 10000 steps were happening by default. The days I was working from home, I would have to make some effort and get walking!
What I have realised over these years is that step count does not make any sense if at least 40% of this is not coming from a dedicated walk. 10000 steps roughly comes to about 8kms, and 40% of that is about 3.2 kms. So what you gotta do is do about 3.5kms of a walk to make it really count… anything more than that is a bonus on top of your 10000 steps!
And now the blessings part… Please be thankful that you are able to walk and run!
Get walking….
I got a bit serious (just a bit) about getting fitter around mid-2021. There were no specific triggers related to health, but a conversation with some friends here about trying to get better with push-ups! I was at less than 10 at that time, and was committed to getting better…
The only way was to do it everyday and improve over time! Also decided that I would do this over a period of 20 days, and then increased that to 50… did that and managed to do push-ups every day over 50 days with one cheat day!
At the same time, I also started riding more! got a new indoor trainer and put an old bike on the trainer! started riding regularly on the stationary bike and got out on the roads when I got sometime! Target was to complete 1000 kms within 2021 and earn myself a new bike (I did, and more on that later)
Between July and December of 2021, I got more disciplined about the whole process… and tried to take out time for riding or push-ups (and at times weights). There have been a few days when I didn’t but realised that it was ok to leave it a day or two as long as I was able to get back to the routine.
I want to take this further in 2022 and do more rides and push-ups! (Maybe lift more weights, do more jumping jacks, and skip too) I was able to get a start and continue with it I 2021 because I had friends who were sharing progress regularly, and helping me get better. With this thought, I put up a message on WhatsApp asking friends to join me if they had a similar goal for 2022.
The target is simple
250 Active Days in 2022!
Definition of active day – The day you did something out of your regular day to day work to get fitter – you did a brisk walk, you went out for a jog, you did some jumping jacks, you did some push-ups, you rode your bike, you went to the gym! or whatever it is that you did to burn some calories or increase your strength.
You would burn calories some days, you won’t the other days! its ok! First step is to get started! and we would figure out as we go along!
For now, here is my 2021 and I am committed to make it better in 2022
This has been said, and read a million times I think, maybe more! but we humans would still take our time in getting to the most appropriate way of doing it!
What we feel vs. what we say or how we express are two different things! what makes it worse is an expectation that the other person would understand what we are thinking inside based on what we are saying!
I might be concerned or worried, but I would snap at someone who I am worried about
I might be tired, but I would just be quiet
I might be angry, but I would show disinterest
and so on and so forth!
To every champion who has tripped, fallen, failed on screen… You help pass a very very important message to kids growing up.
Its OK to fall, its OK to fail! you are a champion because you get up and get going again!