It’s amazing, isn’t it, how often life can get in the way?

This year has been one of the busiest of my life. Then suddenly I realized that I had locked myself in outdoor activities more than half of every week. And that which was is NOT good. Not for me and certainly not for my health and fitness. So it’s time to forget about sitting in front of the computer working on more research and so often shooting to help with this group or that. It’s time to focus on what I need to do for myself that will also help me and everyone else.

FIRST Update my wall chart to include both my commitments to others and my new commitments to SELF. What are they:-

Walk for at least 1 hour, three times a week. There are beautiful walking areas in my area, somewhere I can start using the canes I got from my son as part of my Christmas present. Even though the weather has started to deteriorate and we are definitely in the dead of winter, it is never as bad as it was when I lived in the far south. And now I have the equipment to be able to achieve this.

NEXT Eat good home cooked food regularly, avoid foods I shouldn’t eat. (Not easy, I made a mistake again as recently as yesterday. OOpsy, I promise to do better.) My last check up was very good, my health as always on par. I continue to take the medication that I need and also the supplements that I have found to work for me. I have been and still am aware that I need to take care of myself first before I can be useful to others.

And with that in mind, here are my last thoughts, oddly enough, though these days stray thoughts seem to come out of nowhere.

“Dammit! You’ve reached the big 5-0, or 6-0, or even worse, 7-0 – whoop! What to do now? Retire to the couch like some did in the distant past? Prepare for “OLD AGE”? – Horror!

But, if you’re like me, you’re not READY for old age yet. Then what do you do? Well, when my other half left me a widow, and after the first very long months (of which I have no real recollection), I suddenly discovered that I was a single person again. A ‘mature’ single person who didn’t know what to do with me now that I was no longer part of a couple. I tried lying on a sofa, but I couldn’t stay still long enough, so the only alternative was to sit and think.

As a result, I have spent a lot of time researching ways to stay healthy and fit. After all, I am now solely responsible for my own health and fitness. My first forays took me walking, weather permitting, and after a while it no longer took me half an hour to walk to my local town and back. And after an even longer time, I would walk up to an hour and a half, sometimes covering more than 5 kilometers.

Today is the day I get back to living my life with a healthy balance between work and play. Today is also the day that I commit to updating my blogs more frequently.

And after writing the above, I managed to succumb to a tumble bug, which put me in bed AND on the dreaded sofa, for over 2 weeks!

I finally think I could survive now and with winter in full swing (cold, windy and too many wet days) I will have to take advantage of those days when I can do it, to go down to the beautiful walks in my local Karangahake Gorge. I really want to get my feet under me again. I have a beautiful chunky infinity scarf, made last year, and a very windproof jacket, courtesy of my late husband.

So if the rain lasts until after lunch, I’ll be gone.

I WILL get back into shape and now I truly believe I will survive this damn mistake.

Watch this space!