Today I arrived at  at the gym on time. The benefit of arriving early is that I had my pick of equipment. With that said, I only use the treadmill! As you can see, my photo steadying skills are lost when I run on it. 

I was absolutely exhausted yesterday, but an earlier bedtime has me back on the somewhat tired norm that I have recently become familiar with. This is a very different feeling from the sick exhausted feelings that I had prior to my behavior changes late last year. 

It is funny,in an ironic way, that I feel younger, more vital. The steps  that I’m taking are simple, but I’m also consistent and rational in my plan of action. 

My goal today is to keep moving in a forward direction. My goal today is to correct the inevitable deviations from my first goal. 

It is Sunday night and tomorrow starts a new workweek. It is not uncommon for me to think back to all of the things that I didn’t do that I felt that I needed to do.  This weekend was no different.

However, I did do a lot of productive and enjoyable things too.  I spent time with people that I care about.  I grew a little more spiritually by hearing a decent sermon at church.  I paid my house taxes, took passport photos of the kids, cleaned the house and I did a lot more. I even baked some more of those no sugar muffins!

I wonder why it is so easy to look at my missteps rather than my accomplishments.  For many years I have resorted to a simple technique to realign my thinking. That technique is called, “The List.”

When I start to feel that I should have done more, when I feel that I don’t have the right to just sit and do nothing, I’ll write down everything that I did do.  I’m always surprised at what I have accomplished that day, or weekend, and I always feel better about allowing myself some sitting time.

Life is more than doing.  Today I will try to remember that sometimes just being is enough.

Over the last week I have been attempting to get a WordPress blog to work.  That is the blog that you are reading now.  I was using this blog as a test blog to learn some basic concepts that I would need to help re-establish my friend’s blog.

The biggest challenge was getting a post published in WordPress to automatically publish on social media and connection sites like Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. By the end of the workweek I thought I had it all figured out… but no.

Today I spent a couple of hours linking my friend’s site up.  Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.  After a couple of hours of work I realized that Google+ was posting on his personal page, not his business page.  Crap!  Finally I fixed that with a lot of trial and error.

I double checked LinkedIn and the posts were going there, but they couldn’t been seen.  Several hours later I realized that the only way to post to a business site on LinkedIn was to buy a $50/year subscription to a custom API.. no other way. I hope my friend doesn’t mind too much. The good news is that I believe I have everything working… at least I hope that is the case.

It is now 3PM and my brain hurts.  I need to get out into the fresh air.  However, it does drive home a point for me.  During the last few hours I wanted to just give up many times.  Just as I was ready to do so I decided to push just a little bit more.  That process, repeated and repeated, and my efforts eventually led to a  solution.

How many times do we give up on something just because we don’t want to push that little bit extra? How many times do we continue to push when the best solution is to simply let go?  …Just pondering.

It is 4:32 AM and I have been up for a bit.  Not by a lack of ability to sleep, but rather by a desire to keep up a new behavior.

Although I think there is a wake-up time that exceeds the ability to adjust to it, 4AM is probably not that time.

I won’t go to the gym today, instead I’ll try to do some creative work with Tom.  My goal is to link his new blog to his social media sites, as I have done with this experimental one.  I’m hoping that things will go smoothly, and I like the fact that I’m challenging myself by learning some new technical skills.

Today my goal is to challenge myself and push myself to learn while still enjoying the process.  Today, I feel that goal is a possibility.

On Fridays I drive to Rockford, on a trip that takes just shy of and hour and a half.  If I had to do this trek on a daily basis it would be difficult, but once a week isn’t too bad.

As an introvert I enjoy my alone time, and I’ll often make the trip in silence.  Thinking and rethinking.  Coming up with solutions for problems that don’t really exist. Focusing on the unimportant and (more rarely) the important.

For me, this is relaxing and recharging.  The 90 minute commute turned into a positive, instead of a negative.  Today it is my goal to realize that, like a coin, most life events have two sides.   My desire is to focus on the positive side, instead of dwelling on the negative side.

I have discovered that I need to eat something before I go to the gym. Otherwise, it is low sugar and shaky time for me. But I need something that is portable and quick. 

So far I have tried a peanut butter and banana sandwich and a small bag of nuts. Both worked OK, but variety is the spice of life. Today’s experiment are these muffins. Whole wheat, banana/blueberry, no additional sugar. About 190 calories for 1/12 of the recipe and they taste pretty good. I added a little salt and vanilla and was liberal with the blueberries. 

I’ll try one out tomorrow. 

My last attempt to figure out this WordPress/Social media thing.  Please Ignore.

“Change this graphic. ”

Trying out new ideas with friends can keep your thinking flowing.