Finally Changing My Mindset And Turning Corners

I’ve had a problem getting some decent heart pumping exercise over the years.

Let me fill you in on some of the very real and some of the very lame excuses I have been recording in my head.

Since I became a Mum, well actually since I conceived, I have not been partaking in one of my favourite forms of exercise. Bushwalking/hiking. This was the most constant form of exercise for me out of anything (yet still somewhat erratic). It’s really tough to get out there when your head is hanging over a toilet bowl for 9 months, yes everyday barr 8 of ‘em for 9 months. And still the nausea was incapacitating on those 8 days. Pregnancy is not a pretty sight for me or anyone within spitting distance.

Immediately AFTER my 29 hr labour with 2 min contractions for many, many hours with a couple of brief 10 minute interludes thrown in, I felt like I could climb Mt. Everest. I only threw up one more time, was back to my usual weight and could touch my toes again and see them. Well, I might have felt as though I could climb that big old mountain, but now there was another excuse for my lack of decent exercise. I had somewhat of an attachment that prevented me from doing much of anything at all for myself. She was (still is) a beautiful, 5lb 140z (2668 g ) bundle that required oxygen for several days after the birth.

To this day, now 4 1/2 yrs on, we are still very attached. I am apparently practicing something called Attachment Parenting, so little Miss Charlotte has been the main reason for my lack of bushwalking. When I was her age, I was out there with my folks in Wales, hiking, but Charlotte isn’t showing the same enthusiasm, yet! I will keep my hopes up that it changes. Anyway, this attachment parenting as anyone can attest to, is downright tiring. Any parenting is.

Back To The Matter At Hand

I have had little spurts of exercise, but haven’t stayed with it. Every year the record in my head is becoming louder and more persistent and it’s telling me to get some heart pumping exercise, but I’m a strong willed woman, so I have been telling this little voice to basically get lost. I have mentioned in a previous post that I know that decent exercise will help my tiredness, I know it will help my depression, but I’m too darned tired to do anything.

However, I’ve recently had a bit of a breakthrough because I can’t listen to this dang cracked record in my head any longer. It’s stuck and so am I. Charlotte and my style of parenting might have been quite a valid excuse for not hiking, but there have been countless times I could have ducked out for a half hr jog which is something I love to do.

But oh that tiredness! It’s a great excuse and it IS very real, but I need to trust that the more I exercise, the less sluggish I will be. I have to say, I’ve actually had a lot of exercise with day to day ‘running’ around, getting in and out of bed throughout the night, in and out of the car, weightlifting is in there, too. Carrying a baby around has to be a good workout, surely? What about walking into town and on a bush track where I used to live, but no, none of it was heart pumping stuff that this record goes on about.

What prompted the shift in me was writing a comment to an article at the Efficient WAHM website. It was cathartic in some way.

I’ve Turned A Corner (I Hope)

So last night, I went for a jog. 10 minutes to start. Tonight it was more like 15 minutes and I built up a sweat. I like it when that happens. We are in for some very hot weather this week. 39C predicted on one of the days and I LOVE jogging in the heat, but by evening it will have cooled down somewhat, so I hope to continue every evening for a week to see how I feel. I’ve been needing to tone up for a few yrs now and want to lose just the tiniest bit of weight, but toning up is much more important to me, so I have written it here to be accountable. For the toning to happen, I’ll need more than just a week!

I know a lot of you are probably feeling very much the same way as me with that cracked record going in your head. I have two wishes in sharing this little journey with you. One is that I am now accountable to you and I hope to take that seriously and continue with more regular exercise and two, I hope you have gained some inspiration to move yourself forward. No hiding behind that old excuse of ‘The right time will present itself’. That one belongs to me. Yes it will present itself, but maybe it has many times and like me, you haven’t been ready (another excuse).

Just get out there and succeed in whatever small way it takes and I’ll be in there barracking for you. Wish me luck and good luck to you! Let me know how it goes. If you want an accountability partner, just holler.

photo credit: whiteafrican