january, a very bleak month indeed, is beginning to wind down. february is lurking somewhere, behind the cloudy, cloudy skies and frigid temps. what it will bring, i don’t know. probably more of the same dreary and cold days with occasional snow. or maybe we’ll be able to sense the days getting longer finally. maybe we’ll have more than one sunny day during the whole of the month.
the winter weather makes me listless, as it does every year–i complain about it like a broken record. the boys and i are back in the swing of school though, catching back up after our long absence. our days are spent huddled with our books in front of the fireplace, reading about cyrus the great or figuring equations or writing down sentences containing the week’s spelling words. we are content with this, mostly. the kids still would rather fill their days just playing. history and science really grab their imaginations, but not enough for them to refuse legos for story of the world. sometimes i wish this would change. but, come to think of it, i’m not always choosing to renew my mind over sitting with the internet in my lap or a show on the t.v. i’m trying to change that about myself, but only because as an adult, i can see how it would benefit my life, make it richer, fulfill a part of me that simply longs to know stuff. the boys will get there.
since our return from hueco, i have also found it very difficult to get back into my uber healthy lifestyle of eating really well, cutting down on sugar and alcohol a lot, and exercising a good many days each week. the holidays, of course, killed the healthy eating/drinking (or not drinking). though i think a person ought to enjoy a short period of gluttony here and there, and i certainly worked for it training from august to november and then being out climbing for almost an entire month, it’s hard to get back on track. i completed a 7 day cleanse that didn’t rid me of my sweet tooth, and i’m still struggling, but i’m back under control.
running has fallen by the wayside this year. i have given it up completely for now. last year at this time brian and i were in the throes of training for a long trail race. we considered doing it again this year, but brian found a new spark for climbing, so we decided to focus any training on that sport. i’m actually relieved. going out for runs had become extraordinarily forced with no feeling of reward at the finish. now i just (silently) mock the people i see out running in the horrible yet classic winter we have been having. suckers. when the weather gets warmer and it doesn’t seem like it’s either dusk or dark all day long, maybe i’ll take it up again.
climbing has even been hard to get back into. there are a few reasonable reasons for this:
one) the aug-nov training period was very intense, and i was doing some sort of workout 5-6 days a week, sometimes 2 times a day (i know, crazy, right? but i can’t say enough how well it worked and got me strong). i think i have it in my head that i have to jump right back into that training mode. which leads me to…
two) the spring climbing season (for outside adventures) is a somewhat far off. realistically, we won’t be climbing outdoors until maybe sometime in april, but more likely may. i just don’t have the motivation (another trip or a climb that i want to do in the area that i need to get strong for) yet. the local climbing gym certainly isn’t inspirational. i need to be content with just normalcy at the moment, a normal amount of climbing.
i have made one big-ish change recently (like, 3 days ago) that i hope will stick and help me out with this discontented preoccupation: getting up earlier (not too early) in the mornings to exercise first thing. i’m hoping this will help me be more consistent–nothing like waiting until 4p to exercise, knowing i have to start making dinner by 5p. i usually just give it up and say i’ll do it tomorrow. then the same cycle begins again. if i get it done in the morning, i won’t be dwelling, scheming, planning the rest of the day to try and get it done. i want exercise and climbing and stuff to be in my life, but i don’t want them to run it. i want to leave room for the renewing of my mind, remember?
i don’t really have a reason for this post except that i wanted to write. so here is a kind of happy-new-year-looking-toward-the-future type of post i guess. happy new year!
Posted on January 22nd, 2014