Lost and Finding Joy

I usually want to quit and forget about it, but I couldn’t let it go. Maybe it wouldn’t let me go. My desire to lose weight must be boiling at 212 degrees. Just like water won’t change even at 211 degrees, we don’t change until we have a burning desire that reaches boiling point.

I did what I said I would do in the last post. I left the television off, and I rode my bike for 30 minutes — not consecutively. It wasn’t easy. I’m convinced the only reason I rode the bike for 30 minutes was because I wrote it down. After writing the post, The Struggle Is Real, I closed my laptop and went straight to my exercise bike. I rode for 1 minute and I got distracted. My daughter came over with my granddaughter, and it was my pleasure spending some time with them.

My full intention was to get the remaining 29 minute ride in before the end of the day. I had 30 minutes before I needed to go to my haircut appointment. I got back on my bike and rode for an additional 8 minutes and 8 seconds. I was distracted again by a phone call from our contractor who was outside doing some work. He needed a check for some materials he had purchased, and he wanted to go over some details of the project. This time I took a picture of the time, because I knew that I wouldn’t have time to finish the remaining 20 minutes 52 seconds before my hair appointment

My clear intention for the day was to accomplish my written goal for a 30 minute bike ride and not watch any television during the day. Not watching television was the easy part. The tougher part was a simple 30 minute bike ride.

When I got home from getting my hair done, we had more company at the house and Kevin had come home from teaching. When our company left Kevin jumped in the shower. I took the opportunity to ride my bike for an additional 21 minutes.

I accomplished the goal of riding my bike for 30 minutes! I felt good about that.

Why am I sharing this with you? Well, I said I would for starters. But, it also demonstrates a few things I’ve learned over the years. One of those universal truths is, when we start anything new all sorts of things show up to 1) Distract/Delay 2) Dissuade us from doing it. Second, there is power in writing down our goals. It solidifies our desires and intentions.

Perhaps the best part of this example is this: Because I followed through with my promise to myself, it gave me the motivation to go a little further. I downloaded an app (just to give me something tangible and visible to keep me motivated). It helps me keep track of intermittent fasting and the amount of water I drink throughout the day. I’ve been doing it the past two days and nights, and already feel a positive difference.

Today, my intention is to drink 72 ounces of water, quit eating at 4:00 pm until 8:00 am (intermittent fasting), and ride my bike for 35 minutes. It’s another step.

What about you? What is your intention for the day?

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.” ~ Henry David Thoreau