Motivation & Enthusiasm
No Comments »I joined the local swimming pool a few months ago to try and help shift some of the weight that I seem to have accumulated over the last year or so. I’ve also sarted eating much healthier with the same intention. So far I’ve managed to lose about half a stone. When I joined the swimming pool I found it difficult to get the enthusiasm to go as often as I should, always seeming to find something more important to do with my lunch hours at work.
Just recently I seemed to have gained the motivation that I was previously lacking, not quite sure where from, but maybe it has something to do with setting myself targets and making my swims more interesting by making up a “routine” for my time in the pool. This week I actually completed three sessions, 30 lengths each time, including a variety of different strokes.
On top of the swimming, now I have come to the end of the physio on my foot after the car accident, I have been wanting to improve my walking distances. I am hoping that I will gradually increase the distances until I am back up to the 5/6 mile walks I was happy with previously. We went to Strawberry Fayre in Cambridge yesterday and I certainly walked a fair distance there - only having troubles when we were nearly back to the train station in the evening.
For the first time since the accident I went running today - ok, so it was probably the shortest run ever, but its a start and with my newly found motivation maybe I can build up the running distances too, possibly even get enough enthusiasm to go running before work in the mornings once or twice a week - although that may be asking a lot for someone who really hates mornings!
Also resumed after a long(ish) break are both archery and kite flying. The last kite meeting I went to was the New Years Day fly-in, when there was almost no wind but plenty of time to socialise round the BBQ, so I popped over the Ferry Meadows for one of the meetings….where there was very little wind, but more socialising going on! A hot day, and although not much would fly I got the chance to catch up with some friends and the swan kite did manage a short outing. Archery on Tuesday was the first practice session since we began shooting outside in May - was a bit daunting to start with, but we soon got into the swing of things and I was pleased to see that the alteration to my bow that I had done at Custom Built Archery seems to have improved my range slightly too.
Something new for this weekend, if you include Friday evening in your definition of “weekend” (and I certainly do!) is a couple of hours of dancing lessons - something I’ve been wanting to do since WASH last year. I attended an hour of ballroom dancing, and learnt some quickstep, and an hour of latin ballroom where I learnt some jive and some rumba. I had so much fun, and amazed myself by picking up the steps quite quickly, that I may well go again this coming Friday too. I don’t think I have the time spare to commit to going every week, but its certainly very appealing to be doing something new and energetic.
The last, but certainly not least, activity this weekend has been resuming work on Project Doublestar (DS), the ongoing kite project. We knew it was going to be a long term project, but I didn’t count on having so much else going on that I wouldn’t touch it for weeks, possibly months, on end. With the sewing I’ve managed today, we are now up to the point of joining on the third set of panels. It is already so large that if we try and lay it out to photograph it takes up most of the floor space in the middle of the living room, and still two more sets of panels to attach yet! Only 15 more pieces to hem too.
Success all round then, this weekend - and I’m hoping this period of motivation and enthusiasm continues for some time to come, particularly as it also extends to updating the blog too! Maybe I’m finally starting to lighten up a bit again after worrying so much about college - who knows!