Exercise

Whew! It's nearly February and I feel like I'm only just beginning to recover from all the fun I had over the holidays. It must be my age or "yikes" maybe it's because I haven't been to the gym in ages to work out... That could be it! "Ding!" If I want to feel peppy, I just may have to change my habits to include, I hate to even say the word, but here goes exercise.

In the past, swimming was my favorite way to get in shape. Now, if I can bring myself to put on a swimsuit and then convince the devil in me that the water is not really that cold, I'll be good to go.

I admire people who like to run, don't understand them, but I admire them. How they deal with gasping for air and sharp shooting pain is beyond me. I smile when I think about it, but I took a jogging class in College because I wanted to lose weight. We had to jog four miles to pass the class. I passed, but it nearly killed me and believe me my pace was nothing to brag about. The fear of failure was the only thing that kept me moving on the pavement.

All that said, would you believe I studied Shorei Karate at the University of Wisconsin Parkside for five years? I practiced and exercised my butt off when I was involved with that program. When you're sparring with another person, you don't think about anything but the moment. And, if you want to do well,cross training helps. So, it worked for me. That program was well worth the pain involved. And that is because there is more to Karate than exercise...

2010

The beginning of January is like an empty sheet of paper. It holds tremendous promise and hope (like the song says). We all have a chance to start fresh; to really strive for those goals we have floating around in our brains. What? You don't think you have goals? Oh yeah you do, they're there even if you don't write them down. And, because it is the beginning of January, I say we may as well put those goals down on paper and figure out a plan to achieve them or 'poof' they will be like colorful dreams that disappear in no time at all.

My plan is to think about five things I will strive to accomplish in the year 2010, write them down and put the list in our New Years Resolution folder. I've been doing this with my family since the mid-nineties. It's always a surprise if I achieve everything on this list. That does not discourage me, however, because I'm a firm believer in the word strive. I always have been. For example, when my children were in elementary school, I never told them they had to have A's on their report cards. What I said was, "You need to do your best." No one can ask anything more of a person. Life is about the process not the end.