What is beauty? Love, of course, I've been married to the love of my life for over 20 years now, and we are expecting our first grandchild this summer (a girl!). Moving my body, sweating, breathing, training like an athlete is beautiful.....good Lord how lucky am I to be able to swing a kettlebell for a few minutes a few times a week, go to yoga as often as I feel, and walk for miles? Food & wine, the abundance, the variety, the taste....I could keep going.... Where I live is beautiful....the sea, the mountains, the weather. Friends....although I don't have many, the one I do have (lol), accept me the way that I am, and still like me, lol! Beauty is owning a washing machine, having garbage service, finding the exact change in your pocket and never being in a hurry. Beauty and luxury is having choices.
I have many choices in my life, but one of the choices I don't have is my training. I haven't missed a workout in forever, it's not a choice....I show up no matter what I feel like. And it doesn't get easier, necessarily. In fact I think I have too much choice, which makes training a little harder, because I can put it off and easily fall into skipping it all together. For instance I'm sitting here writing this blogpost, it's 7:00am, so I've chosen to not go to the 7:15am yoga class, which means I'll go to 9:15am yoga.....unless I get busy, or lazy, or tired, or hungry....in that case I might decide to catch the 12 noon class, but knowing Mark and I are going to the 4:30pm class later today, I may decide to skip the idea of a "double" today, because afterall do I really need to go twice in one day?
And I can't tell you how many times....yes I can....every week....I want to skip or postpone our Wednesday, 1:00pm, Max v02 because Tuesday is my "all I can cook, (and drink, lol), day" I'm always nursing some sort of hangover on Wednesday, but I never miss an "am" yoga class, many times practicing once in the morning, training Max @ 1:00pm and then going back for a 4:30 practice....is that hardcore or what? I don't mess around when it comes to my workouts, that's what it takes. Besides, in your whole life, it's such a little amount of time, really.
I understand why people don't workout....been there, done that....many times and for many years. Let's see....I didn't work out for many years because why? It was uncomfortable....I didn't want to feel how "out of shape" I was. It was "time consuming", good Lord I already had so much to do....kids, job, watching my favorite TV show. It was inconvenient, it takes 10 minutes to drive to the gym....good Lord that's 20 minutes there and back...do you know what I could do with 20 minutes? I was too tired......eating junk and not exercising regularly, how could I not be? It was boring.....God forbid it's boring!
What's the alternative? Especially as we get older, we get sicker, fatter, less physical, less mobile. Those are the alternatives. I know the dangers of disconnecting from my body, and no matter how hungover I am (drinking is a choice), no matter how much weight I gain (overeating is a choice), no matter how tired I am, or how little time I make, missing my workouts is not a choice.
Life is good, beautiful and luxurious. What are the beautiful, luxurious choices you have in your life?
11 comments:
great post Tracy. Congrats on the soon to be grandchild! and one of my luxuries is being able to sit down and read other people's blogs and learn something valuable from them :)
regina
Congrats Tracy on your new Grand Baby!! That's so great!!
Now I see why the Wednesday Noon timing is so important when we're driving through! Looks like we'll be driving through on Thursday now anyway and heading right for SF...
But you do have a beautiful life and so do I...everything is a choice and now that I'm back to martial arts that is so wonderful and the movement is so great to have back in my life again. I want the Bikram back too, but I have to wait a while more to get my shoulder unstuck.. the bells are working back in slowly and it feels great!!... cooking, wine, guitars, gardening, painting... there is so much to do and so many great things to enjoy!!
Don't forget to come play in Santa Barbara with us to add to your luxuries :) Life is so good!!
xoxoxo
Regina,
I don't read many other blogs these days and sometimes I feel bad about that because I write a blog, so I must expect someone to read it!
But, I don't write nearly as often as I want to because I choose to spend my time living my life instead of writing about it, lol!
I can't seem to completely let go of this "blog thing" though because, truly, I am so passionate about how I was able to transform my life that I really want someone, anyone, to maybe, feel, see, and believe in the possibilities for themselves. there's nothing better than feeling good, healthy and most important.....lucky!
Jen,
You know I'll be "rocking" the pressure cooker, making baby food, right?
I've got a new "gig" giving cooking lessons.....Mark calls me "The Drunken Chef", LOL I'll be taking my show on the road headed for your house soon! (did you guys get our new bed yet? lol)
PS I did my first "triple" yoga day, that day! I ended up practicing the 9:15, 12 noon AND 4:30 with Mark!
Tracy,
YES, YES, YES!! We just picked up YOUR bed yesterday from Ikea! It's the larger version of the one that you slept on last time you were here. It's still in the box until we sell the single, but have no fear, it will be up and running soon for you and Mark any time you two love birds want it! I'm serious when I say that you guys can come here ANY time!
Oh, just had dinner with friends last night (the ones that are getting married in Catalina as a matter of fact) and the new Bikram is open in Ventura... just an FYI if you ever need a Bikram fix on the way anywhere in that area!!
And OMG a triple!!! You're a wild woman!! That is awesome. I told Greg I wanted to sneak back to just one little itsy bitsy Bikram class...but he's too protective along with those pesky doctors. Maybe in another month.
Even without Bikram, life is good... so as soon as I get done with these dang graduations (2 graduations and a wedding! LOL) we'll have the rest of the year to party!...I mean train and party :)
YAY!!
Jen,
OK don't be surprised when I email you with a few dates....but we won't be going any further south than you guys!
Tracy,
We will be pleased as punch!! :)
Congrats on the grand kid news! I'm sure she'll be one hell of a swinger when she grows up! :-)
My luxury? Seeing my son everyday, he's the best thing I've made of my life and now I need to keep myself here as long as possible to kick any one's ass who tries to harm him! Oh yeah, losing 120lbs with still a few more to go was great too!
Diana,
Ahhh....the luxury of being a mother! Not every woman gets that one....aren't we lucky?
You look so hard core in that picture, it's great.
I wanted to ask your opinion about cheat days... I know that you allow yourself one per week. I'm just wondering if you have any parameters to keep your treat day from getting out of control? I am trying to lose the last couple pounds and I'm wondering if my treat day is preventing my from getting to my goal.
Your wisdom is always appreciated!
Elizabeth,
so sorry it took so long to reply to your question.....if your still out there waiting, here's my opinion....
The "cheat day" has very specific bounderies, but put that aside for a while.....
If you are doing the same thing over and over and over, but expect different results....that's the definition of insanity! In other words, if what you are doing isn't getting you the results you want then you HAVE to change it.
I would suggest dropping your cheat day to once every 2 weeks for a month or two, start there and see if that makes a difference (it should).
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