Last Day

Some months fly by in a blink; September crawled by slower than molasses in the middle of winter.  I was begging for the month to be over.  Knowing that a) this was going to be an emotionally charged and busier-than-usual month due to my mom starting chemo and, b) I had been feeling completely overwhelmed by everything and allowing myself to fall into unhealthy patterns (like eating chocolate daily and not exercising,) I decided to create the I’m Too Busy to Take Care of Myself Challenge.

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My hope was that by taking baby steps each day towards a healthy lifestyle I would feel empowered to get back into fitness.  While some challenges included typical things you might find in a fitness magazine (#3- Prep Healthy Food, #18 -Do a Leg Workout, #21 – Drink 8 Glasses of Water) other tasks were designed to bring a busy life into balance (#16- Ask your Family to Help with Housework, #15- Go on a Date, #9 – Do Something Nice for Yourself.)

While endeavoring to complete these goals, it seemed as though the universe was constantly trying to derail my efforts by throwing curve balls at me. I felt like Bad Luck Brian.

www.quickmeme.com
www.quickmeme.com

Like when I was driving to my pole dance class, the one thing I had been forward to all week, and I got rear-ended while stopped at a red light at the corner of Wells Branch and Surrender Avenue.  (For real.)  A week later, the exact same accident, rear-ended while stopped at a red light, happened to my husband.  In between taking my mom to all her biopsies, lung fluid drainage, port installations for IV, physical therapy and chemo treatments, I found out that the oddly shaped mole I just had removed from my face was actually basal cell carcinoma, which is a low-grade type of skin cancer.  While it’s easily treated (the doctor just cuts it off) it’s also the last thing I wanted to deal with this month. Or, you know, ever.

Despite my luck only being the bad kind, I actually managed to do most of the challenges, even though I didn’t always have the time to blog about it daily.  The #toobusychallenge reminded me that if I can arrange my schedule to care for everyone else, I can prioritize my own health and wellness needs too, even if it’s just a 10 minute walk.  By focusing on all the things I could do, it motivated me to get to the gym at least three, sometimes four, times a week, and it helped me to eat fewer comfort foods than I had last month.  Although I still don’t fit into my skinny jeans *sigh* I did lose one pound, which motivates me to stick with clean eating and exercise.

The challenge served it’s purpose – I’m ready to get back in the game.

Doing my arm workout between laundry loads
Doing my arm workout between laundry loads

Goals for October

  1. Get clean eating back on track.  Develop strategies to deal with emotional eating.
  2. Focus on arms this month.  When I go to watch the Texas State Naturals on October 25 (a local natural bodybuilding competition) it would be great to wear a sleeveless shirt with confidence.

That’s it for me.  Thanks to everyone else who joined the challenge with me.  I hope you got something out of it too 😉  What about you?  What are your goals for next month?

Lisa ;)

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