Freedom to Switch Things Up

Routines are Meant to be Broken

A few days ago, I mixed things up. First, my walking buddy and I walked in the morning because Summer showed up unannounced,  and I had evening plans which precluded walking closer to dark. Then I decided to run some extra errands; picking up orthotics for my walking shoes, getting gas, washing my car, and as an added treat, an iced Oat milk Espresso to help me stay awake for the evening’s dancing. The only downside, given how the rest of the week got switched up was I totally lost what day it was!

Even so, I got my laundry done on Wednesday, and my food foraging on Tuesday (after picking Maggie up from ERF) as usual, even if training was on Monday instead of Thursday. I’ve been getting the scooping done earlier in the day again, and have been running the robovac almost daily, much to my cats’ annoyance. It’s often enough, they’re even starting to get used to it, and growling at some unknown suspect in my backyard instead.

I am managing to get over 15,000 steps in on the days I walk and dance. I consider anything over 15,000 to be awesome, as it’s my goal and a half. Saturday’s walk, while the same distance, was a bit slower as a lot of the neighbors were outside, feeling chatty despite the heat we weren’t able to avoid completely. After more than a year, they’re used to seeing us nearly every day, and are incredibly encouraging, as well as friendly. Though the political and social viewpoints are often clear by various signs and flags on the houses, a lot of the less tolerant ones tend to stay out of conversations when it comes to friendly neighborliness, giving me hope for a better, kinder future for our country than currently seems probable.

Having Fun Reducing Weight

My biggest success story from the out-of-order errand running was finally getting the right kind of inserts for my walking shoes that allowed my toes plenty of room while supporting my hips so they were better aligned. I was pleased to discover Dr. Scholl’s has come a long way since the last time I bought their 3/4 length orthotics. The machine did more in-depth testing to fit me within a much wider size-range. I’ll be doing my daily 3 miles a lot more comfortably for years to come, despite continuing intermittent crankiness from various body parts. I just need to make sure to check the bottoms of my walking shoes before I’ve worn through several layers! Who knew just walking 3 miles a day could be so hard on shoe soles!

I’ve also started adding dance nights to my regular schedule which means I’ll often be dancing 2 or 3 nights a week now. There have been weeks I could have done 4, but know my body well enough to avoid pushing my luck! I’m getting more exercise on Sundays than I used to what with getting down on the floor a lot with newer, shyer cats and kittens. I may not get back up gracefully, but being able to get up off the floor with my excess weight, arthritic knees, and years that keep marching on is an accomplishment I’ll never minimize.

The excess weight part is something I can, and will get a handle on in the coming months. More 15,000+ step days and paying more attention to what I put into my mouth will contribute to future success in bringing my weight down some more. My trainer has changed things up as well which should contribute to building more lean muscle mass to further burn the calories I do consume.

Challenges Accepted

It brings to mind the optometrist I used to see. On our last visit, she told me my blood pressure was too high after measuring it once. She went on to say I should ask my PCP for blood pressure medicine because there was no way I’d drop the 20 pounds that would help bring it down naturally. Not only did I drop more than the 20 pounds, I found myself another optometrist!

Even last year, my blood pressure was fluctuating, running high under the stress of doctor visits, and an eventual cancer diagnosis. The OB/GYN I was seeing at the time again “suggested” going on blood pressure meds. She also told me I should be getting 10,000 steps a day as it would help with weight and blood pressure. If she could see me now! Even when I’ve only walked and done errands, or chores around the house, I’m getting 12,000-14,000 in a day. Not bad, if I do say so myself. Of course, it also helps to wear my watch most of the day instead of forgetting it on the charger. Nowadays, most of my steps get counted.

Now that I’ve added 2 Physical Therapy appointments to my weekly schedule, those numbers should climb even more, which is good news for the osteopenia that was diagnosed in my neck. Apparently, walking, dancing, and building muscle mass are among the things which can help reverse bone loss, or at least keep it from getting worse. Being able to enjoy the activities which help is an added bonus, if you ask me!

Needless to say, my schedule changes from week to week. Other than appointments, nothing is engraved in stone. Even dance nights have options every week. Better still is sharing those nights with a lovely group of ladies who, like me, don’t need to be part of anyone’s crowd.

Expressing Gratitude Throughout My Day

My gratitudes today are:

1. I’m grateful for having only localized bone loss at this stage in my game.
2. I’m grateful for already doing a lot of things right. There’s always room for improvement, but at least I don’t have to start at ground zero and change all my ways!
3. I’m grateful for the freedom to navigate my weeks any way I want to.
4. I’m grateful for continuing to find things to write about, even if some might only interest me.
5. I’m grateful for a mind that thinks critically, researches regularly, and constantly seeks truth, or at least provable facts in a world that discourages such things.

About the Author

Sheri Conaway is a Holistic Ghostwriter, and an advocate for cats and mental health. Sheri believes in the Laws of Attraction, but only if you are a participant rather than just an observer. Her mission is to Make Vulnerable Beautiful. In her spare time, she’s also an accountant with extensive experience in Government Contracting.

Life’s a Dance, So Please Stay Present

Keeping My Body in the Present

I do a lot of dancing. It’s my sanity, my exercise, and most of all, my happy place. I’ve been line dancing for decades, but have only recently taken up ballet. One thing I realize about both, as they are not only choreographed, but require elements of posture which are anything but second nature, is I can’t do either if my mind is wandering or focusing on my To Do list. As soon as I do, everything I’m trying to remember about dancing, everything I get from the music and the movement disappears in a puff of smoke. Even muscle memory gets cross wired.

My body returns to what I like to call “resting slob pose”. My memory of choreography is a vast wasteland of dried up water holes, and arrogant Joshua trees. Worst of all, the enjoyment I get from the movement, the music, and using my muscles and sinews in their best and strongest forms fades away like last night’s dreams.

Although partner dancing is nonexistent at the moment, the same is true of anything involving lead and follow. To follow well, you have to, to put it mildly, pay attention. Holding frame requires attention, and without frame, the leader can’t communicate his next move in a way the follower will understand and respond. I suspect an inattentive follower is an uphill battle for the leader, and certainly not one worth repeating.

Living in the Moment

What I’m trying to say in my usual, lengthy fashion is you have to be present to dance well. Frankly, being in the moment when I dance is one of the purest forms of pleasure I know. Even stumbling through the more complicated ballet moves, and navigating them better than I did a few months ago brings such joy to my heart, I can’t even describe it. If I were losing focus, I’d never get through even the simplest ones I’ve done repeatedly.

Lately, the subject of Presence, or Being is coming up more and more often. Sometimes it’s a post I share, or a conversation I initiate, but it’s starting to come from surprising quarters too. People whose focus was elsewhere; on the future, on letting go of the past…anywhere but here and now, are starting to recognize the importance of focusing on the only moment you can actually impact. I’m not sure why it’s suddenly coming up in their conversations, but I look forward to seeing where they take it.

Being in the Now is a very personal place, in my opinion. No two people have the same Now, nor would they handle it the same way if they did. Just as your reality is impacted by your own life experiences, so too is your Now. The moment you’re in; the one you have any chance of directing, modifying, or changing is unique to you on numerous levels. You’ve either learned to face it head on, or you’re still allowing past and future distractions to get in the way of using that moment to its fullest.

Feeling My Feels

I read recently people are only present maybe 10% of the time at best. The thought rode around in the back of my mind for a couple of days before I recognized how Present I am when I’m dancing, and realized I’m probably Present more often than most, and not only when I dance.

Writing these blog posts, my Morning Pages, my intuition journal, and my novels and memoir keep me in the moment as well. Even though my memoir is based on the past for the most part, my healing process has led me to this moment in time, and has evolved along the way. In looking back, I’m still focused on describing things in a way that evokes understanding from the reader in more than simple perception of vocabulary. I want and need people to feel what I felt as I waded through my own morass of emotions, clearing away muck, and letting go of what no longer served me.

I want them to relate in their own way, through their own experiences. To do that, I need to feel the emotions myself, as I pour them out onto the page in all their messy glory. Everyone feels sad at some point, but does the word create a mental or even physical picture? Can you relate to “sad” in the same way you can “wallowing in a pit of despair, mired in the muck of unshed tears, and a heart broken into a million pieces, and glued back together haphazardly, oozing rot and decay from the spaces left where pieces couldn’t be found”? OK, I probably went a little overboard on that one, but in my defense, I was trying to make a point.

Releasing Expectations to Move Forward

In order to write the more descriptive version of “sad”, I had to be in the moment, feeling that broken and battered heart to the depth of my soul, so I could share how it felt; the faulty canvas I ultimately learned was not only repairable, but had broken so severely to allow me to put it together stronger, but also with a lot more compassion. In short, I had to learn how to feel so deeply, I no longer saw the need to hold those feelings back, hide them, or pretend they didn’t exist.

You might say that’s not Presence, but Past. I disagree. I’m allowing old feelings to bubble to the surface one more time, so the words on the page are stronger; better; more impactful. Most of all, they have to be relatable, so I have to, just for a moment, feel them again Now.

Thinking about it, I suspect I’d have found more enjoyment in my past career had I stopped letting myself dwell on past events, speculation about the future, and how unhappy I was overall, and spent more time looking at what was in front of me in a single moment. I’d have held onto less anger towards some of the people around me, but most of all, towards myself for allowing, and for settling.

Focus on Movement, Not Perfection

Is focusing on the present moment making my life perfect? No. It’s not supposed to. It’s giving me the opportunity to look at a smaller piece so I can make the necessary changes without distraction, and free from speculation over whether the changes I’m making will or won’t work out. Whether or not they’ll be effective isn’t my concern. Making a change I see needs to happen without entangling myself in all the possible outcomes is.

Think about it. Whenever you’ve considered making a change or taking a leap of faith, do you analyze it to death, looking at all possible, and even impossible outcomes? If so, how quickly do you effect a change? If you instead looked at one, single thing you wanted to change, and just did it, and told the anxiety to go take a nap or something, wouldn’t you feel like you’d actually taken a step forward?

Maybe it’ll turn out to be the wrong step, but at least it made you move out of the rut you’d been in so you were better able to see the right step. Scientists and inventors will all tell you there are no mistakes. They’re simply all the steps it took to reach the right conclusion. Even if all you do is clean off your desk and toss things you no longer need, or hang a picture on a bare wall, it’s progress, plain and simple. Isn’t that what you want? To make progress?

One final point I’d like to make is all progress isn’t forward. Sometimes it’s sideways, and sometimes, it’s backwards. I believe movement in any direction is still progress, because it allowed you to move from one moment to the next, and start taking responsibility for your current reality instead of allowing it to toss you around like a bit of seaweed that broke loose from the ocean floor.

Gratitude as a Tool and a Reward

My gratitudes today are:

1. I’m grateful for the many leaps of faith, both large and small I’ve taken in the last couple of decades.
2. I’m grateful for dancing which helps me see how often I’m truly in the here and now.
3. I’m grateful for the many positive changes I’ve made in my life, and the ability to make many more.
4. I’m grateful for learning to alter my perception and my focus.
5. I’m grateful for abundance; love, change, friendship, challenges, lessons, opportunities, setbacks, peace, health, balance, harmony, philanthropy, and prosperity.

Love and Light

 

About the Author

Sheri Conaway is a Holistic Ghostwriter, and an advocate for cats and mental health. Sheri believes in the Laws of Attraction, but only if you are a participant rather than just an observer. Her mission is to Make Vulnerable Beautiful and help entrepreneurs touch the souls of their readers and clients so they can increase their impact and their income.

If you’d like to have her write for you, please visit her Hire Me page for more information. You can also find her on Facebook Sheri Levenstein-Conaway Author or in her new group, Putting Your Whole Heart Forward