This or that

I've completed three days of my 5 days of 5Ks. Just a status update.

It's going to be another scorching day with temperatures over 100 degrees again. There is a small window in the morning I like to take advantage of before it gets too hot. Afternoon is not the time to be doing much outside. But it's summer and I wouldn't expect any different.

I have a flexible agenda today. Do this or that or not that or this. But I got another run in.
TT

Two days

I took my own words to heart yesterday and decided I would give myself a goal or a self-inflicted way to move myself out the door for a slightly more consistent basis.

I decided to run a 5K for 5 days. It's nothing too dramatic. It isn't a horribly high goal to reach but it will serve the purpose of getting myself out the door each morning. I started yesterday and have already run another 3.1 miles this morning.

I've already completed two days out of five. I've already run 6 miles more than last week. It isn't a lot but it's more and consistent. I don't think I will have any trouble doing it again tomorrow and even if I stopped there I would be ahead of the game.

But I won't stop there. No. Five days it is.
TT

And running

And what about running.

I have been doing well with my consistency of running until it stopped. I have been able to get out almost every day and get a 3 or 4 mile run completed before the day got too deep into itself. I was on a firm and consistent daily routine until I wasn't.

It's only been about a week and a half since I suddenly seemed to fall off and stop. I'm not sure what prompted the end of such a good, long, consistent running streak. Maybe it was the weather but that is too easily blamed. I'm sure it was something I thought up or analyzed to it's death about why or how it needed to be curtailed. It doesn't but it stopped for a recent while now.

Time to get back out again. Build it up and take it slow. Make it persistent and consistent and fun.
A break doesn't a quitter make.
TT

Distractions

I'm getting distracted and it's still early morning. This is the normal time I would try to get organized and I'm having a bit of start this and then do that until that other thing comes along and I decide to move to yet another thing to do. I guess it isn't a bad thing except I'm sure I will forget to do some of the things I should be doing.

I might have to start a list of things I don't want to forget while I'm hopping from one thing to another. It will need to be fast because these thoughts are piling up pretty quickly. By the time I think to do one thing another pops up and then another and I forget the first or second and then remember much later after it should have been done.

I guess I need to take a break and think Zen or meditate or just have another cup of coffee while I mull over all the lovely things I get to pick and choose to do or not.
Coffee it is.
TT

Plenty to do

Somehow I've landed in the middle of the week not knowing exactly how I arrived so quickly. I've been doing and doing and it seems to have used up some time between then and now at a rapid pace.

I'm good. Rested. I'm ready to start up again. There is a multitude of ideas for things I need to do. If I could only figure out a way to harness the ideas into a comprehensive list or plan. If I could only sort through the priorities and tackle each one in order of importance. They all come at me at full force in the mornings and dwindle to forgotten memories by the afternoon. Or maybe I am the one that dwindles and the tasks linger and hover until the next morning when I can regroup and organize and take them on again.

I've got plenty to do. That's a good thing.
TT

Get going

I have a full day ahead of me.

I've started my morning as all others with more than a few cups of coffee. That's normal. The more the a few is regular protocol for me. Every day. I woke slightly earlier than usual but it's been productive so far. It seems I have a few things to do and errands to run today before I head out of the city later this afternoon. At least I've already gotten the normal, early morning chores out of the way. I could have another cup of coffee.

A full day, a packed agenda, a lot of things going on. I guess I better start with one thing at a time.
TT

It could

I couldn't be more rested. I couldn't eat another bite.

We go in circles with the things we say we can't be more of. Of course, I will get up again and be exhausted after a full scale project of this and that. I will get hungry again by the time I get the kitchen back in order and have a well stocked fridge and pantry. Even the act of buying the supplies and creating a menu can have an effect on the resting part before a bite is ever taken.

I couldn't is used for much more than resting and eating. Those are the simple words that no one takes seriously. It's when I couldn't is used in our own minds to hold ourselves back is when it can be a tricky situation. Just as easily as we believe the words I couldn't there should be the same ease we accept the words I could.

It could all go around in circles for a while but if we conscientiously remove the contraction it could make a world of difference.

Couldn't it?
TT

40 year measure

I am almost on my way to reunion. It's been about 40 years since I've seen or spoken to many of the people that are planning to attend. I can tell there is some excitement building from the social media and emails that I have seen going back and forth in the past few days.

I'm not all that thrilled.

Like I said, I haven't seen many of these people in a very long time. There must have been a lot of things happen or lack of things happen with me and I'm sure with them, too, since the last time we were together. Who are these people? I mean who are they now because there is no way I am expecting them to be the same as before. Things have changed. They must have changed. I have changed or would like to think that. It will be like walking into a party of complete strangers except that I knew them once upon a time. I'm thinking the expectation of me and them being the same as 40 years ago is the measure. How awkward is that.

I've thought about bailing out and not appearing but it seems too dramatic a move to make. It would certainly bring more attention to me than I would like to receive. I guess this is one of those things it's better to go and leave early if that is what needs to be done. It's not like I'll be able to attend when the next 40 years rolls around.
TT

Change is good

Some routines don't change.

I think I will always and forever start my day by getting up and putting on a pot of coffee. I can't tell you how long ago it started but I don't see it ending any time in the future. It's one of those things that do not change. It will stay a routine of mine. 

There are few things that will not change. Most of everything else will find it's way into some sort of altered state. Things will be modified even if it's ever so slightly until it either no longer exists or has transformed into a different way of doing it.

It's a good thing for this to happen. Change promotes us to think of variations to our routine. It helps us to make modifications to the dreary and become more creative in how we go about our daily lives. It can open the doors to find and appreciate opportunities to do things we claim we want to try. Nothing can hold us back if we are eager to make changes, however small, to find and reach out to achieve new goals.

Change is a component to spark the creative side of our own happiness. We need to be willing to cross out of our familiar to experiment with the new. It becomes an exciting way to convert our routines into the adventures we wish to find.

Well, some routine changes are good. I won't be giving up my coffee.

TT

Take a moment

I am taking a moment to enjoy my morning. A cup of coffee, a few thoughts rolling around in my head, a full day before me.

I am already trying to subdue the urge to rattle off all the possible tasks I should undertake to use every possible moment in the day. I am already thinking of the things I should have started or completed already and the day has just begun.

I'm not going to do that. I am going to allow myself the time. Gaze out the window. Listen to the birds. Put down the lists.

I have the entire day ahead of me.
TT

The outlook is good

There are a million reasons to stay positive. You don't realize how much better you feel when you figure out there is more to be grateful for than you realize. You could list the positive effects of being positive if that is how you would like to spend your time. There really are a multitude of good things that happen when you forego the whoa-is-me attitude or the why does everything turn out wrong or sideways way of thinking. It doesn't cost you anything to give it a try.

A few of these multitudes are: good feelings, more relaxed, more resilient, less envious, less illness, improved sleep, increased energy. The list goes on. I'm sure I could find all kinds of bad things if I were to look in the opposite direction but who wants to do that? I don't need that type of thinking and it seems even if I took half of the good things listed it would still be a really good thing.

Maybe I have always been that type of person that would rather be positive. I know it doesn't happen all the time but lately it seems to have become more of something I do or try to do more often. It sure makes things more pleasant and who doesn't want that?
TT