30 Day Challenge + A solution to my problem

Right now I’m sitting at home in front of the fire watching Julie and Julia by myself and it’s brilliant

It sparked my mind about my own blog and I wondered how I could create some fun, new and exciting posts to keep things fresh… Then I discovered this" “30 Day Challenge” which I felt was the perrrrfect way to achieve all that.

Here’s how it works/what it is:

Day 01 — Your favourite song
Day 02 — Your favourite movie
Day 03 — Your favourite television program
Day 04 — Your favourite book
Day 05 — Your favourite quote
Day 06 — Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 — A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 — A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 — A photo you took
Day 10 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 — A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 — Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 — A fictional book
Day 14 — A non-fictional book
Day 15 — A fanfic
Day 16 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 — An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 — Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 — A talent of yours
Day 20 — A hobby of yours
Day 21 — A recipe
Day 22 — A website
Day 23 — A YouTube video
Day 24 — Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 — Your day, in great detail
Day 26 — Your week, in great detail
Day 27 — This month, in great detail
Day 28 — This year, in great detail
Day 29 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 — Whatever tickles your fancy

So this challenge is actually for tumblr using short posts, but I thought I could also use this as a way to further my skills in article writing and analysis, and in turn, make them more interesting for you to read
I’m really excited about this challenge and I MUST finish it! I seem to have a terrible habit of starting “challenges” on my blog and never finishing them… Consider this a challenge within a challenge, a challenge to finish.

Of course I’ll also post these days in conjunction with my regular writing on fitness and health, it may even add up to two to three posts a day which I would prefer

Let me know your thoughts on this!

In other news…

Remember this morning’s post on my motivation issues for exercise during Winter? (which actually officially starts in 2 days). Well I think I’ve found my solution… Trail walking!! Today my family and I went on a trip to the beach to search for Moko the dolphin, and instead ended up walking half of the Toi’s track. (I completed the Toi’s Challenge last year, an 18.5 Kilometre trail run/walk. I walked it with Mum) In our travels I expressed my issue to Mum and she suggested that I start Bush walking instead because I love nature, I love being outside all day and it’s low-impact which would lower my chances of gaining injuries since we all know how injury prone I am. I welcomed the suggestion with MORE than open arms as you can imagine. It’s perfect! It’s makes absolute sense and I’m definitely going to give it a go. I no longer enjoy running because of the pain and I’ve grown sick and tired of exercising at the gym in an enclosed, confined space. I’ve begun to feel as though exercising at the gym almost defeats the purpose of exercise. Now when I think of exercise I consider it to be something you do as a means of getting closer to nature and sucking fresh air into your lungs. Working out in a gym is boring and restricting, making it impossible to get any of that.

I considered today my first trial day for bush walking. I had an absolute BLAST! I felt happier and livelier than I have in weeks, it was refreshing and rejuvenating.

Some of you may know that I haven’t been feeling very happy lately, but I’ve come to realize that you sort of have to make your own happiness. FIND your own happiness. You can’t just sit and wait for good things to happen to you, you have to be proactive and help them happen. I’ve taken a new and improved approach to things and have been productive with myself, which has, in turn, boosted my happiness

I hope you all enjoyed your Saturday as much as I did. I’ll now resume to being engrossed in this film and mentally plan my post for Day One of my 30 day challenge which you can expect to see tomorrow morning.

Goodnight!

xoxo

New habits + an unusual problem….

Hey guys!! I’m baaackk

Did you miss me?
I’ve decided to resume regular blogging since I think I’ve successfully made it “back on track”. I’m very happy with my lifestyle at the moment, and let me tell you.. There have been some major changes!!

Where to begin…!?!

Well firstly, I have taken up JuJitsu. This may be a surprise for some of you, but throughout my entire life I’ve had something of a fascination with Martial Arts and I’ve always wanted to try it, but somehow have never found the courage to be proactive about it. Body Combat was a start for me but I still wanted to take things further. So when I discovered that they now hold JuJitsu classes twice a week at my gym, I was ecstatic and came along to the next class to check it out.

It. Was. AWESOME!

It was a whole new world of exercise and empowerment. There is something so uplifting about knowing you have the ability to flip someone on their back no matter how big or small they are.

I’ve been to 2 classes so far and I’m already hooked. I’m bruised everywhere in places I’ve never been bruised before, but it’s worth it

Last night I went the extra mile and at 5pm I went to JuJitsu for an hour, then at 6 I headed to Body Combat from 6.15-7.15pm! I was sooo stuffed! It felt great though and it’s very satisfying to know that I gave it %100.

I’m definitely going to keep JuJitsu up, it helped me to be so calm and relaxed after a particularly bad day at school. I think that if I keep this up I’ll be able to get through the year maintaining a calm, relaxed mindset

There are 2 classes a week that I can attend and I plan to go to both, but obviously one of the classes are on the same night as Body Combat. I can make it to both classes if I skip the conditioning for Jujitsu. I’ll be super stuffed by the time I come home from it all but hey, I think it’ll be worth it If it’s too much then I’ll drop body combat. I have to pay for that class each week, whereas I can go to Jujitsu whenever for free with my gym membership.

I also went to Zumba on Monday night again! hahaha. I’m sorry, but that class just does not do it for me eh. I tried to like it but it’s just not happening. Think I’ll stick to my usual cardio training on Monday nights

After the first JuJitsu class I attended my knee’s felt really REALLY bad. I had to take extremely strong pain killers and use a ton of anti-flamme, just to be able to sit down and stand back up again. I concentrated on my technique last night to see if I could alter it slightly in a way that meant less pressure on my knees and I think it worked. They felt heaps better after class last night.

Anyway, in other news…

I have an unusual problem at the moment…

My problem is that in the last 1-2 weeks, I’ve developed a horrible tendency to be insanely fussy with my food. It’s crazy, for example, Feijoas I have loved all my life, and then now I hate them. I can’t stand the smell or the taste, even looking at them turns my stomach! This is so weird!! I can’t understand how I can go from loving something, to hating it virtually overnight!

Other examples are things like waking up in the morning, starving and usually I’ll be craving something and know exactly what I want. But now when I wake up, nothing appeals to me. I’m hungry but I don’t want anything to eat.

I’ve been having this same problem coming home from the gym. I’ll want something to eat but there’s nothing appealing so I won’t eat at all.

I’ve been skipping meals due to this problem and it’s BAD!

Does anyone have any advice on how to counter this? Or help me love food again?!?

Help!!!!

That’s all for now folks If you have any advice, please feel free to leave a comment in the comments section. I welcome ALL (positive) comments

I shall leave you with some photos. I’m off to the gym soon for an easy 40 minute cardio sesh before kicking back tonight, watching the new season of America’s Next Top Model and pulling my Bass guitar out of retirement to see if I can remember any old favourites. Have a fabulous Friday night!

Unexpected turn of events.

This morning I got up, ate my pre-run fuel of a toasted bagel with peanut butter and Jam and half a banana, drank my cup of coffee and large glass of water and head out the door.

I ran for a slow 42 minutes and 34 seconds. I worked it out to be 6.2 kilometres. I felt great through the entire run and I felt as though I  could’ve run for another 3 hours! Thing was, my knees were HURTING BAD!
Not in the usual place though :/ This time they were hurting on the INSIDES (???) rather than the outside as usual. I have no idea what was up with that, but since the pain wasn’t debilitating I didn’t stop. I just carried on slowly on the grass until I reached home. Once I got home I stretched and iced my knees for ten minutes, they felt fine afterwards.

I showered and was just about to get my 2 breakfast of the day, by now it was about 10.20am, when I received a phone call…………………..
FROM MY BOSS! Saying that I was rostered on to work today from 10 until 4 and I should be in and could I come in as soon as possible.

I had a big freak out because I had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever that I was meant to be working, I hadn’t seen that shift when I looked at the roster last week. Never the less, I wolfed down breakfast which was awful- 2 pieces of toast with extra-lite cream cheese and COLD baked beans. Bleh!

I styled my hair quicker than ever and threw together “lunch” and my “snack” which was 1 banana, 1 apple and a small serving of fejoa crumble. I hopped on my scooter and took off as quick as legally possible.
Tell you what, 50 k’s per hour seems RREEAALLL slow when you’re running an hour late to work.

Once I got there, it was HECTIC! We were flat out all day with our easter sale. Good thing was though that it meant the day absolutely flew by and before I knew it it was 4pm and time for me to head home.

Once I got home I ate a couple of cheds crackers with sliced pickle on top, then 2 squares of chocolate. What I was REALLY craving though was a 6-inch ham sub from Subway, which thankfully was today’s “sub of the day”.

I drove all the way into town just to get a sub lol. I’m impossible when I’m craving something in particular. I will not be satisfied unless I eat that particular food. I ordered a 6-inch sub on Wheat bread with Ham, all the salads (apart from Jalapenos) and sweet onion + honey mustard sauce. I skipped the cheese today, that’s something I can do without and it doesn’t really make a dramatic change to the taste of the sub so no losses there.

I slept terribly last night and was freaked out by a shallow earthquake we had around midnight so my heart was pumping for ages and I couldn’t relax. I’m exhausted and hope to sleep well tonight!!!!!

Off to Tauranga tomorrow in preparation to depart to Waiouru!! I’m going to finish packing my bags tonight

See you later!
xoxo