Wow, I’ve been a slacker. Again. With the holidays and all it’s been a while since I’ve even had the time to think about blogging. But hey it’s a new year and you know what that means, right? Partying and drinking! Resolutions! Yeah those…
I normally don’t make resolutions, but I think there are a few things I need to change, and it all started with me doing some yoga today, or as I prefer to call it, the twisted pretzel workout. Because that’s what I feel like when I try to do it. Before I get into that, I want to start by saying Merry Christmas and all that jazz. And Happy Hanukkah, but seriously that was during Thanksgiving and is already older news than my lack of blogging since…almost Thanksgiving. For me, Christmas is a time to get cozy in the house, decorate and celebrate the winter to come, and give thanks for the year prior. And gifts. Of COURSE it’s about gifts. For me though I like giving gifts because I love the look on people’s faces when they get the perfect gag gift item they love.
I had a great Christmas. My brother turned 30 in mid-November, and right before that he got engaged to his wonderful girlfriend (yes, I’m older. yes I’m still single). And my sister came home to visit from New Zealand (yes, she lives on the other side of the world). And we got to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas all in the same week since she was only here until the first week of December. In reality, I think we were just making up for the fact that Jewish people get a week of Hanukkah and my family isn’t one to be outdone, so we had to top that by cramming as many holidays into a week as we could…which included as many family parties as one could tolerate while attempting to not down too much wine.
I digress. So back to twisted pretzel exercising. I’ve got a bad back from getting run over by a horse several years back, and I tend to not take care of it the way I should, so I decided that for the New Year, one resolution was to do some yoga. I’m not saying how much because some could mean one day, and since I did yoga today, that means I’ve already kept my first resolution! Or it could mean more than one day. But that means if I do yoga tomorrow too, I’m golden. See where I’m going with this? Well anyway, I was contorted like a pretzel and no where near what the instructor looked like, writhing in pain and curled up like I was made by Aunt Annie all thanks to my brother getting me Chromecast for Christmas so that I could (thankfully!) torture myself in the comforts of my own home. I do have to admit, my dogs and cats all looked at me like I was out of my mind. I can only imagine the looks I’d illicit if I was in a gym. Well, day 1 down. Let’s see how many ore I can go.
Then yoga got me thinking. Once I was unwound from being a pretzel, I realized that even more than the stretching and the breathing was the thinking it makes you do. Or rather focusing and letting go of thinking, which is something I rarely do. I’m a chronic multi-tasker. The kind of person that feels that if I’m not doing 23423567 things at once, I’m not working hard enough. Always go-go-go-go-go, often it feels like I do everything in a rush and fail to stop and smell the roses. So in addition to yoga, I’ve decided to make a big resolution all based around being present in the moment, and not multi-tasking so much. Here goes.
Cut the umbilical cord to my laptop and cell phone on more than just weekends/times when I am in the barn. Fortunately I am good about leaving the phone in the house and turning the laptop off all weekend for the most part, but during the week, I have one if not both of those near me 24/7. As soon as I wake up, I check my cell phone for email and news. When I go to bed, after turning off the laptop I check my cell for weather and updates…it’s got to stop.
Mind you, I’m ADD or ADHD or whatever you want to call it to the max. No, I’m not on meds, and I haven’t been diagnosed. I’m 37. When we were kids, if you were too hyper or easily distracted, you went outside and did something like playing stickball in the streets or red rover (remember that game? I LOVED that game!). But as an adult that makes a living online in digital marketing, it’s like the constant bombardment of distraction. I have a Lifeproof case for my phone (awesome!) and can even take my phone in the pool in the summer, or in the shower. I have even answered business calls in the shower. Yes, yes you read that right. IN THE SHOWER. You know you multi-task too much when a shower is no longer sacred. Sheesh.
So there’s that. For real. I’m doing it. No more watching TV while playing on the internet and doing work, and checking messages on my phone. Okay, well maybe I’ll have the TV on for background noise, but from now on, I am taking time for me. Starting with pretzel contortions, and continuing with being able to do stuff, any stuff, without always needing my cell phone 3 inches away or less.
On a positive note, I lost my cell phone 3 times when I was distracted doing other things so far today. Off to a good start? Chime in with your resolutions. Or don’t. Or just make fun of mine. Hey, does anyone want to do a 30-day cleanse? I know of this great diet. No, really. Haha!
In other news, I’ll get back to the Not So Ok Cupid saga in the next few days. I’m back online and have more stuff to share, and maybe I’ll even go ahead and join Farmer’s Only just to make you folks happy. Yeah yeah, we’ll see.
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