March Vacation: Walking

The third and final part of this vacation recap is a little late, and here's why. When thinking about writing an entry on my walking performance, all I could do was focus on the negative. My walking on this trip was far from good. It wasn't where I'd hoped it would be. Blah, blah, blah. Now I could focus on the negative, I could whine and complain, but I'm not going to do that. I whined and complained a lot growing up about various things, and I've gotten out of that habit (thank goodness). Now, I turn things around and look on the positive side.

While my walking on this trip was less than desirable, I got to where I wanted to go. No falls, and maybe just a few stumbles. It isn't how you get to your destination that matters, it's the fact that you get there. I can blame the knee twinge from walking in the snow for my tentative steps. I could blame a blister for not walking as fast as I'd like. I could blame bad confidence or self consciousness for poor walking form (I was pulling a lot to the side), but the point is, I was walking. Despite my issues, I kept going. I kept moving.

Sure, my legs were tired from walking up and down hills, but what's the important thing? I walked up and down hills. Steep hills at that. Yes, I tweaked my knee in the snow. But I did not fall. I didn't fall once the entire trip. That's a nice accomplishment for me, especially on icy ground. I read a few blogs this morning that clicked with me. One was from the main SparkPeople daily blog site. The blog can be found here. Basically, Stephanie practices yoga six mornings a week. Rain, shine, good moods, or bad, she does her practices. She may have a practice that's tough, and she's physically worn out one day, but she gets up the next day and she does it again. Why? Because she's committed herself to that particular path. She may not have a perfect practice every time, but she keeps going.

The other blog I read was from a SparkPeople member. I'm not going to link to it, because I didn't ask him for permission. John said, 1: You deserve to be successful. Don't listen to negative talk, be it from other people, or negative talk from yourself. Don't listen to it. 2: You are worth the effort you put into yourself. Any little effort you put into yourself is worth it. You're committed to improving yourself and that does take effort. And 3: You are who you hang around with. Whether it be a website such as SparkPeople, or any other self improvement site, the people there will help you. But you have to actively be a part of the community to receive that help and support. You can't expect to sit back and wait for people to come to you to cheer you on. You need to share your experiences and cheer other people on to get that support.

These two blogs really helped me to keep a positive attitude. It doesn't happen often, but I sometimes think about stopping my workouts, slowing down, or this, that or the other thing. I always get back on the horse so to speak on my own, but it's blogs like these than help me along the way.

I could stop exercising. But where would that lead me? Unable to walk. Depressed, moody, and back to being overweight. That's not what I want. I want to keep going and fight the good fight. It's not always easy, and it's not always going to be sunshine and roses, but those “perfect” days do happen, and I want to be around when they do.

As I said before, I do my best not to complain. I gave up on the complaining long ago, and when I don't like something, I figure out a way to change it. Complaining and whining are unproductive. Think of ways to change what you don't like. Think of ways to do something that you think you “can't”. It may be hard, but anything is possible.

Get up and keep moving!