January 1st

This sounds quite narcissistic, doesn't it? Let me explain.

During the holidays, I realized that I do not take time for myself. I've stopped exercising, I've stopped eating as healthy as I should - grabbing whatever sweet/salty/fatty thing I can to appease my hunger (chocolate chips, anyone?). I put aside my needs for those of others as a regular practice. As a result, I feel blah and uninteresting; my back, hips, knees and ankles hurt; I suffer from nausea and gastric reflux often; my symptoms from sjogren's syndrome, reynaud's, and rheumatoid/osteo arthritis have worsened; I have trouble sleeping; and I have a closet full of clothes I can't wear. Basically, as the saying goes: I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

So it's time to turn a page. Being in my mid-60's I don't have a lot of time to waffle on this and I certainly don't want to spend my 70s, 80s and, hopefully, being in pain, using a walker and generally being an old person. So I have decided that it is time to make myself a priority.

It's time to make doctor appointments.

It's time to work towards healthy eating.

It's time to get moving.

It's time to be accountable.

First, I need a baseline. So as much as I hate to do it, I need to weigh myself. ARGH. Drum roll, please. . . . well 219. Not as bad as I thought it would be, but not good either. Optimal weight for me would be about 170 - so 49 pounds to lose. Now, the waist measurement . . . . 41 inches. That is not good.

This Week's Plan:

1. Kick the cereal in the morning and replace it with oatmeal.

2. Add greens to my daily menus.

3. Start exercising with my rehab exercises for 35 to 40 minutes daily. Frankly, I should have been doing these all along. This will stretch and limber up my muscles, tendons and ligaments and, hopefully, prevent injuries.

4. Break out the Miriam Nelson "Strong Women" books, reread and actually implement the exercises and techniques she uses. I'll start with Strong Women Stay Young.

5. Call the eye doctor and make an appointment

6. For pleasure and a healthy brain,
a) I'll read daily, beginning with Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar - recommended on NPR.
b) Sign up for the Advanced Genealogy course.
c) Work on the genealogy for my family and for my husband's family. I'll start by reorganizing my mother's file and updating the trees I've begun on Ancestry, Family Search and MyHeritage.

That's enough to start. Here we go!!