11/1/21: Today I am starting a 21 day challenge. I made up this challenge. It can not be found on a fitness website or an Instagram influencer's page. I created this for myself because I am good with 21 to 30 day type things. If someone says to me "well it's a lifestyle" I tell them, horsepucky. They are right, of course, it is a lifestyle, but for me, if I look at it that way, I'll quit. I need wind sprints or more of a H.I.I.T. style challenge.
It's possible I'll carry these habits on after 21 days but if I think of it beyond 21 days, I'll go bat shit bananas.
November is the month of giving and month of gratitude.
That sentence is unrelated to my challenge but I didn't want to forget since I do like the general theme of November.
The challenge:
I will do the following things for 21 days in a row:
As soon as I wake up: meditate, drink a glass of cold water, write morning pages, work out sometime in the day and no cow dairy for 21 days.
This combination of a challenge might sound odd to most people but for me, it tracks. I have learned that I am a morning person. I do my best stuff in the morning and to set the day straight, I have to start slow and create a base before running around like a whirling dervish. When I spring out of bed tackling my to do list or scroll the socials, my day goes awry, I lose control of it and nothing seems right. For the challenge I will do these things first thing in the morning before doing anything else with the intention of grounding the day.
Next, no cow dairy. When I was a baby I was allergic to cow milk. I have had bad bronchial issues since I was born. I spent one Christmas eve at the emergency room with a shot in my bum that I will never forget because of an anaphylactic reaction to milk. I also remember coming home and seeing a Holly Hobby Kitchen set under the Christmas tree which means that in the trauma of me not breathing and rushing me to the hospital, Santa (aka mom or dad) assembled a kitchen set and put it under the tree so it was there whenever we came home from the hospital. #goodparenting Over the years I've been able to tolerate dairy but it still gives me trouble. Sometimes I wheeze lightly, sometimes it makes my belly turn. In an effort to remove the rock from my guts, I am not having any for 21 days as more of an experiment, and less of a challenge.
Finally, the daily workout. This is defined as "moving" for 30 minutes or more every day. It doesn't have to be super vigorous every day. I just have to "move" for 30 minutes or more--every day. The dog walk does not count. It doesn't have to be right when I wake up. I just have to be sure I squeeze it in before I got to bed at night.
Today's workout is boxing/upper body class at Xplicit. I love the workouts there. Chad is a rad business owner. He had blow up dolls separating the equipment in the gym denoting 6 ft social distancing during Covid. He's fun to work out with and a super mad expert in his craft. Below is a pic of him dressed as a woman at his gym. There was not a reason for this. It was not Halloween or "celebrate your blonde wig" day. This is just a standard day of fun at Xplicit Fitness.
He is about to launch a new wearable technology boxing thing. It's a fun tracking system that helps you burn calories, increase velocity, form, effort, etc. The new gym, where we get to use this fancy widget will be opening soon. The new gym will be closer to my house #bonus for me. For now I will enjoy the final months in the old gym. It's 6:53 am and I already drank my water, meditated and did morning pages.
I will report back on how the workout went and how day one fared in the next post. Until then...What Are You Grateful for today? And, in the spirit of Chad's goofiness...What made you laugh today?