June 25, 2019

Excitement About Exercise--Me?!


(I still haven't gotten enough submissions this week for a Transformation Tuesday post 😞 Please send me some! I really want to continue the series. The details are on this post. And I would eventually like to do a special one about before and after pet adoptions, so keep that in mind, too!)

Just four days into summer, and I've already checked off four walks from my Cookies Summer Challenge! I've done the Solstice Walk, Bridge Walk, Trail Walk, and Evening Walk.

I am not exaggerating at all when I say that I am truly enjoying this. This is the first time I've really, truly enjoyed exercise, and am not doing it for weight loss.

I think it's because I have no schedule whatsoever--I am simply working on a checklist of 50 items to cross off between June 21st and September 23rd. You know that I love lists, and checklists are the best! It is so satisfying to check things off as they are completed.

Over the last few days, I've become determined to complete the entire list this summer. I've posted this challenge for three years, and I've never even come close to completing it. I think that's because I was running when I didn't want to be running and I put pressure on myself to do a certain mileage or pace.

For this checklist, I'm going about it completely differently:

I'm following the walking checklist, rather than running, but I may throw in some running sporadically if I feel like it (which I actually did, when I walked on Friday!).

I'm not setting any pace goals. I can do a super slow stroll or a speedy walk--just whatever floats my boat at the moment.

I'm not setting any distance goals. I may walk for a long time if it's a nice day and I'm listening to a good podcast, or I might squeeze in a short half-mile walk before I have to be somewhere.

I'm not treating these as "workouts". I don't change into workout clothes (I will if I am in the mood to do a faster walk or a run, but if I'm just going for a stroll, there is no need). I'm not looking at calories burned or heart rate (I haven't even worn my heart rate monitor strap).

I am doing this challenge for a few reasons--it's good for my body to move; I get some time to myself to listen to a podcast without being interrupted; it gets me outside; and the different walks are a nice way to keep things interesting this summer. It makes me feel healthy in general!

Seeing others' posts in the Cookies Summer Challenge Facebook group has been super inspiring to me, too. When I see pictures from their runs or walks, it makes me excited to go do mine.



When I wrote my last post about my summer goals for getting back to feeling my best, I thought it would be fun to make a separate bullet journal for it. I still use the one I made for my 40 Goals by 40 Years Old list, and I'm slowing working my way through that, but with the excitement of my goal of a path to getting healthy this summer, a fresh new bullet journal sounded good.

I found this one at Hobby Lobby, and after 40% off, it was only $6! (I looked for it on Amazon, but it's not on there). I love it, and the quality is really nice--the paper is heavier than the paper in my $20 Leuchtturm book. The size of the book is the same, and the pages look the same (except the paper is white and not the yellow-ish color in the Leuchtturm). I love that the paper is heavier because there is no ghosting or bleeding through with markers.


Anyway, it's from a brand called The Paper Studio and the notebook line is called Agenda 52 (they have several different notebooks and some stickers and things you can buy). I just bought the notebook. I mainly want to use it to stay organized with my goals, but also because it's fun to make pretty lists and trackers!

I only worked on a couple of pages yesterday, but I worked out how I'm going to organize the book. Each category will have its own pages and trackers for each goal if necessary. But here is what I did yesterday:



It's funny how a simple notebook can be so inspiring to make me want to work on my goals :) 

Remember... send me some transformation photos, please!


5 comments:

  1. I love your bullet journaling skills! :)

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  2. This is a total OCD comment but I noticed that you didn't put the year in your book, you just put the months June - Sept. :(

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  3. I love the artsy-ness of the journal! If I could make a journal that looked that pretty, I'd probably start journaling, lol!

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  4. I wish I would have taken a picture of our rescue dog when we got her, then I'd send before & after pics for the blog. She is so lucky we found her, but we are even luckier! I should start a journal like I used to do. I had five exercises that I did routinely. I was so much stronger then, and it really felt good. A journal really helps.

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  5. I love your journal! All I do is make lists in mine. Your walks sound like a lot of fun.

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