On June 5th, the day the last very different and very challenging school year officially concluded, a post entitled "Wellness" was made, without the usual link on Facebook. In it, I wondered if it would be read by anyone. If the Blogger metrics are accurate, four people did.
At that time, I weighed 215.6 pounds. My goal was to trim down to 185 pounds, and - based on my responses to a number of questions - the Noom app I'd just started using then projected that to happen by November.
"It's going to happen."
Well, it did happen, but not on the predicted timeframe.
It happened on July 31st.
Many factors played into that success, several of them the type of happenstance that some would call karma, and others might see as "God messages." I'll detail them later, but I believe those strokes of fortune and positive factors were the result of awareness honed by intention. A big part of it was what we all know and most struggle to practice: eating well, eating less, and being consistently physically active.
I set a new goal, and shared it with family and a few close friends: 170 pounds. It would put me near the midpoint of the healthy BMI range, and it also seemed clever to "lose 45 pounds during my 45th year."
It took awhile. There were ups and downs.
I set a new goal, and shared it with family and a few close friends: 170 pounds. It would put me near the midpoint of the healthy BMI range, and it also seemed clever to "lose 45 pounds during my 45th year."
It took awhile. There were ups and downs.
This morning, September 23rd, the scale recognized the hours, days, weeks, and months of work.
That's still not to the midpoint of my "Normal" BMI range, but I feel outstanding and am satisfied with my appearance for the first time in a very long time. Physical activity is more exhilarating than exhausting, food is fuel rather than consumed in a fog.
One of the many new habits I've adopted is a midday walk in the time between my morning and afternoon classes, strolling on Buck Creek Trail the past few weeks for one or two briskly paced miles. Yesterday was a chilly one, the first of the season... which astronomically began yesterday, too.
Over recent years, I've gained a new appreciation of Fall. Having my birthday fall on the longest solar day of the year, the first day of Summer, it's been the one for which I have had an affinity and love all my life. As has been told to our kids many times now, when they bemoan the end of summer vacation and the start of a new school year, we would not appreciate those warmer, carefree days nearly as much if every day were like that.
It occurred to me on that walk yesterday that, at 45 years old, if I am fortunate to live to see 90, I am just now beginning the Fall season of my life, too.
A week ago, a Miracle Morning (yes, another change) reading of Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project included a quote from Samuel Johnson that I in turn shared on Facebook:
"There is, indeed, something inexpressibly pleasing in the annual renovation of the world, and the new display of the treasures of nature."
One of the many new habits I've adopted is a midday walk in the time between my morning and afternoon classes, strolling on Buck Creek Trail the past few weeks for one or two briskly paced miles. Yesterday was a chilly one, the first of the season... which astronomically began yesterday, too.
Over recent years, I've gained a new appreciation of Fall. Having my birthday fall on the longest solar day of the year, the first day of Summer, it's been the one for which I have had an affinity and love all my life. As has been told to our kids many times now, when they bemoan the end of summer vacation and the start of a new school year, we would not appreciate those warmer, carefree days nearly as much if every day were like that.
It occurred to me on that walk yesterday that, at 45 years old, if I am fortunate to live to see 90, I am just now beginning the Fall season of my life, too.
A week ago, a Miracle Morning (yes, another change) reading of Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project included a quote from Samuel Johnson that I in turn shared on Facebook:
"There is, indeed, something inexpressibly pleasing in the annual renovation of the world, and the new display of the treasures of nature."
She quotes him often, and many have resonated, so should add some of his collected works to my mounting to-read list.
I can express what's pleasing, though. It's in the contrast of the verdant times with dry, cool days that we get a sense of life, and some measure of comfort in the eventual passing of ours, as it's simply the way of things. I accept its joys alongside its limits. Don Cupitt's Above Us Only Sky was my first read after Hal Elrod's The Miracle Morning; Solar Living as articulated by Cupitt is my choice from here forward.
In my usual rambling way, what I really mean to get to here is: I Am Well, and Doing Good.
I can express what's pleasing, though. It's in the contrast of the verdant times with dry, cool days that we get a sense of life, and some measure of comfort in the eventual passing of ours, as it's simply the way of things. I accept its joys alongside its limits. Don Cupitt's Above Us Only Sky was my first read after Hal Elrod's The Miracle Morning; Solar Living as articulated by Cupitt is my choice from here forward.
In my usual rambling way, what I really mean to get to here is: I Am Well, and Doing Good.
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