Momentum

I just poured my first cup of coffee of 2012. And it tastes great. As the caffeine works its magic on my sleepy brain, I keep coming back to one word: Momentum. Are you feeling it?

I started 2011 with a bit of fear. I wanted to make big changes and challenge myself. Turns out, 2011 had its own challenges in mind. In June, I was hospitalized for 5 days and sick for nearly 6 weeks with pneumonia and a lung infection. In August, we suffered the wrath of Hurricanes Irene and Lee, spent a week without electricity, and had some minor damage to our home. The church that held our homeschool co-op classes suffered damage and we’ve since been without a place to meet while they make major repairs. In October, we had another 8 day stretch with no power after a freak snowstorm took down tons of trees and power lines in our area. And those are just the highlights.

While the events of 2011 did hamper my drive toward fitness and emotional control, I feel momentum going into 2012. I’ve made changes and am completely confident that I will continue in the right direction.

In November I joined an adult Tae Kwon Do class at my gym. I’d been thinking about it for several years and never had the nerve to join in, mostly because I was embarrassed about my fitness level and worried I wouldn’t be able to keep up. But it has turned out to be something wonderful in my life. The women in the class are so supportive and I’m highly motivated to get there, participate, and improve.

I continue to feel ambivalent about my writing. I love to write, but don’t make the time to do it, which leaves me wondering if I really do love it… Or is it just that lizard brain taking over? I’ve got so many travel-related posts in my head and so many plans. I just need the action part.

Things are going well with the kids. I’ve found a balance of unschooling and homeschooling that makes me happy. My daughter continues to be the social butterfly who wants to take every class available to her and who knows the name of every kid we pass at our health club. My son is clearly showing signs of being a teenager, preferring to sit in his room and play video games with friends over playing Rock Band or Settlers of Catan with the family. But I continue to be amazed at the computer skills he is teaching himself and the friends he is making from around the world. I had a pen-pal from London when I was his age. I remember sitting with a tape recorder next to the TV and recording an epic episode of Dallas. Then I mailed her the tape because the show was delayed several weeks over there and she couldn’t wait to find out what happened. I laugh when I think of this and how different the “pen-pals” of today are, just 30 years later.

So there are the three themes of my life: Exercise, Write, Homeschool. Chris Brogan says we know what to do.  I do know what to do and I know the feeling of doing. It’s a good feeling. The reason I don’t “do” is because I’ve tried and failed again and again and honestly, it’s just embarrassing.  This year, I’m trying to break out of that mindset. I’d much rather have tried and failed at 100 things, than to never have tried anything new.

An object in motion tends to stay in motion. This year, that object will be me.

Tagged as: fitness, self-improvement, writing