This is my Day 5 to 10 “Slim Down Diaries”. What was going on in my mind the past 5 days? There was rest and turmoil and in the end finding stillness.
Day 5
After a day of rest from exercise, I could still feel the tension in my body. So I woke up early and did yoga stretches for half an hour. It never fails to amaze me how yoga relaxes and releases all the tension both from the body and from the mind. I could feel the tightness dissolve. It felt really good. We had a general meeting that night and a surprise shower party for one of our teachers who will be giving birth to a baby boy sometime next month. Even if the day was kind of long, I took it really well.
Day 6
Refreshed, I was able to get back into exercising again. I like exercising in the early morning as the sun rose with a cheery smile. I could do this since Day 6 was a Saturday and there was no need to rush to work. I took my sweet time enjoying my early morning routine, drinking 4 glasses of water, stretching, brisk walking and cooling down. Remember, in exercising, it is very important to do stretching and cooling down stretches before and after exercising. This prevents muscle aches afterward.
I recall wanting to make my routine longer that day. But I decided to just go with the thirty minutes time as originally planned and focused instead on my body getting into the habit of movement rather than pushing it to the limit.
Okay I confessed, I still found myself looking at the mirror and focusing my attention on my tummy. Is it getting smaller? Is my work-out helping? Should I be doing more? I had to stop the thoughts from escalating into negativity. I shifted and began to think of good thoughts. Thoughts like I am really glad I am getting slimmer everyday. I am joyful that I am loving myself. I am happy that I am taking care of myself.
Day 7
Sundays have always been spent with the family attending mass and thanking God for all the blessings I have. And then there was grocery shopping after. Imagine, me pushing one cart after the other. Well, I shopped for food for our house and the other cart was for the school canteen. This surprised the bagger boy (who must have thought I have a huge family) as he asked with a twinkle in his eye, “Are you not done yet Ma’am?” I shook my head in reply.
Hmmm is this activity enough. I was sooo tempted to give up exercising. Hahahah But I was proud of myself when I didn’t yield to the temptation. I rewarded myself with nachos and salsa which I made all by myself. Yummy!
Day 8
Monday was weird. I woke up at 2 am and couldn’t sleep. I guess my mind was working over time, non stop thinking and planning. And I noticed that when I start doing that, the universe starts conspiring to make me see that I needed to rest from thinking too much.
It all started with the laptop, I was disk checking it and it hanged somewhere near the end. Oh no! Please don’t bug down! But it wouldn’t budge. I left it at the school. I was worried. Of course I was. This laptop was just bought a year and a half ago and it was bugging down? I was taking care of it, wasn’t I? The worry prevented me from doing much. I ended up not even exercising that day. Yes I felt really bad about it.
Day 9
You know when things just sort of get crazy within, your outer world begins to reflect that too. Tuesday was a challenge. Daisy told me that her dog was limping and needed surgery. Then one of our kids, who was running around before class time, bumped his forehead on the wall and ended up in our clinic with blood all over. Good thing, it was just a small cut. Blood was wiped off from his face, first aid treatment administered, uniform changed and I did a bit of quantum healing while we prepared the ice to be placed on his forehead. He was okay. I breathed in a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to go home but go back to his classes instead.
The laptop underwent another disk check and still it hanged again at a certain percentage. This worried me some more. Anyhow I ended up deleting a lot of files to clear up stuff! Was it my imagination or did I feel my laptop breathe a sigh of relief too?
When I arrived home that night, I exercised a bit but I could feel I was not as enthusiastic as I was. Grey’s Anatomy was on the television. It was depressing to see Derek being accused of being a murdered from a husband whose wife was killed due to the operation; and had a fighting match with Mark Sloan. More bloodied faces to face. Groan.
Then the call came. It was our caretaker in school. For a heart stopping moment, I thought we had another burglary. The alarm went off but it was one of our teachers who came back to the school to see if she left her cellphone. It was a tough day, that’s for sure.
Day 10
I woke up at 4 am. I had to do something. I was too exhausted last night to do anything. This morning, I rolled open my yoga mat, stretched and breathed deeply. Gosh, I could feel the tension in my neck and shoulders. After stretching and readying my body, I spent the next hour meditating.
The meditation really, truly, wonderfully helped me! It cleared my head, eased the worry and I felt a sense of calmness and inner peace within. I knew all will be well. I realized that I had really gotten myself stressed out (even without me knowing it) as I tried to tackle this challenge of slimming down within 90 days. So I said I will enjoy the journey. But that was a challenge too. Along with that internal pressure was the outside pressure of having to keep up writing it all down. Of course there were other things to add to that pressure! It helps to calm down so one could get a better perspective to it all. It’s Day 10, I am wiser, calmer and less desperate for the results to manifest.
I am getting better and better each passing day. I hugged myself quietly in celebration.
By: Michelle Simtoco
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