Month 2 is almost in the books and I feel slightly better about it than I did with Month 1. But while fitness was on the back burner last month, this month I let my art practice really slide. And that’s okay! Truly! Truly… lol— I’m learning to let it be okay. Let’s jump into the deets!
Health
So last month was lackluster due to all my ailments, but this month was definitely better. Still, I took it slow. I tend to try to jump all in, lose steam in 3.2 seconds and then give up. So really trying to build something that’s sustainable. Even still, I wasn’t perfect. But I’m okay with it. So what did I do?
I studied some portion size hacks for macros so I can easily see if I’m getting enough (or taking too much) of a particular food. I used this mostly for dinners at my mom’s house. For breakfast and lunch that I have more control over I actually measured portions while I did my weekly meal prep, and I used the MyFitnessPal app to create meals of my go to foods to see where they fell macros and calorie-wise.
I also tried to do a “workout split” (using quotes because it maybe doesn’t qualify in the fitness world but for me it’s how I’m starting). The aim was to do my PT exercises 3 days a week, some strength (weights or just body resistance) 3 days a week and then a total of 150 minutes of moderate cardio per week (ideally 22 minutes a day, my walking pace for a mile). I didn’t do nothing, so that’s good, but I definitely didn’t hit my goals every day. The last two weeks of the month I did hit the 150 minutes of cardio (even if that meant 65 minutes on the treadmill on Sunday morning, ugh).
Around mid-month I finally went for my blood test. My results were not as I had hoped. So my doctor gave me all the instructions that she usually gives and I’m really going to focus on putting them into practice this year. I retest in three months so hoping to have better results come December.
Creativity
Last month I was really slaying in the creativity area, and this month— not so much. On 9/23 I started a last 100 days challenge that includes some kind of art every day, so this last week of the month was better than the first three. I intended to start my Laura Horn Mixed Media course bundle as part of my personal curriculum but I only watched the intro video for one of the mini courses. Then I decided to switch over to hand lettering, which I worked on for the first time on 9/26.
Systems
I go back and forth with systems. I love the idea of blocking time for all the things, creating checklists and alarms, etc. And then I also want to simplify my life! How can I do both? I can’t. But I want to have some structure even if I simplify everything around it (or even within it). This month I have been working on actually executing all of these systems, and tweaking them as I feel the need to. Simplifying, but not to the point of not doing anything. Does that make sense?
Overall, I feel good about Month 2. It wasn’t perfect but that’s okay. I have decided that I need to prioritize my health for the rest of this challenge. So I’m okay if the other items fall away a little bit, but not entirely. I still want to maintain something in both creativity and systems, but my focus is going to be on my physical health.
Do you like structure or simplicity?
Photo by Adrian Dascal on Unsplash