Being good.

I haven't been sticking to my diet or my exercise regimen for the last month. My main two reasons were:

• it's too hot
• I'm too tired to exercise and/or too stressed to stick to my diet.

So once again I'm booting myself back onto that good health wagon. I've done well so far today (but it's only 3:45 PM).

One of the things I'd forgotten is what a rush it is when I actually stick to my resolutions! After my walk, I felt invigorated, and my legs felt looser and freed of the jammed-under-a-computer-desk-all-damn-day feeling they usually have. And after my low-cal/fat cookie I felt like "YES! I rule!"

Among the work-related and other things I can feel proud of today, here are the healthy things I did well:

• remembered sneakers & socks to walk at lunch
• ate a 1/2 banana instead of something higher calories for a snack at 11 am.
• actually went on that walk!
• had more fruit for dessert, saving my official cookie for my 3 pm snack.
• actually waited til 3 pm to have my snack.

Yes, I do rule! And who knows how many more good things I'll do today -- after all, it's only 3:45.

Values 101

This morning I woke up as usual, bleary eyed, nose stuffy, too early, but unable to get back to sleep.

The LAST thing I wanted to do was go for a walk. So I did that first, to avoid the rush.

And as I was filling my water bottle, looking out the kitchen window over the sink, I felt a sudden burst of, not quite happiness, or even joy, but maybe... contentment.

Now, I don't know if contentment can be said to "burst," it's more like something that comes in on soft paws and jumps up next to you on the couch, purring and asking for scritches.

But that feeling was my reward, and my incentive. It got me through the yucky bits of getting going, and onto the road.

And oddly, even though I don't have quite that same feeling now that I've actually done the exercise, I do have a feeling of contentment over having felt content, if that makes any sense.

I'm listening to the Sures' book on Ayn Rand, and one line comes to mind -- when Mary Ann Sures said about Ayn Rand, "She really valued her values."

I did something that was important to me, however small, and the doing of it is even more important to me.