I haven't written in a couple of weeks cause seriously what is there to write about? The insanity that is gripping our country on all sides? Yep. But seriously I don't want to write about it. So I won't. That's the best part about not being in school anymore. I can stop writing whenever I w
I've hit 70 pounds of weight lost since January 2019. It's pretty awesome but I've still got like 50 to go. The good news is I can actually pat myself on the back now. All these t-shirts that I love are now fitting me and actually looking good. It's fantastic but that's pretty much all I wear now. Which is awesome.
I've hit a plateau the last few weeks and it's frustrating at times. I'm losing inches but no weight. That's probably a good thing but I've decided that going to youtube for answers is a mistake. The reason? Most of these physical trainers are jerks and d-bags. They're the type of people in high school that you couldn't stand. Every video that comes up has a list of 5 things that you should be doing for any particular topic, and then it usually says "You're probably doing this wrong". That drives me insane. The thing is everyone says this is the right way to exercise or to eat but it all contradicts each other and each one is designed to make you feel like you're an idiot who just can't understand weight loss or fitness like they do. It's the reason I hated The Biggest Loser. For ratings they'd have these serious discussions that would basically be, "Why do you think you suck so much? Seriously how did you become such a fat load?" It would drive me insane. I'm fat cause I like cheeseburgers and cookies and I didn't want to limit myself to one. I'm fixing that now and feeling really good so quit telling me how much I'm doing wrong and how much you're doing right. I get that they're passionate but be passionate without being a d-bag. Quit telling me what I'm doing wrong. I guess I could stop looking at the videos on youtube but I'd rather rant about it.
It's certainly hasn't been an easy journey. With all the time on my hands I'm working out twice a day now which is fantastic. I highly recommend DDP Yoga, especially if you have back issues. Next month will be 3 years since I started having sciatica. It really really sucks. However it has gotten so much better since I started doing yoga and losing weight. I've done cortisone shots, physical therapy, chiropractors, acupuncture and ozone therapy and the only thing that has made me feel consistently better long term is yoga and weight loss. It's nice not to be in pain every second of every day. If you have any pain like that I'd highly recommend it. The thing I love about it is you start at your level. I think the reason most people say they don't like yoga is they start off in a class that's above their skill level and it's way too hard. You start at the beginning and work up to the more advanced stuff. I just started to really be able to do down dog the other day, and this was after months of building up the muscles. I'm totally OK with that because I started at my own level and worked my way up to this point. I plan on moving forward. As I've strengthened the back muscles and dropped weight I've felt the pain go away more and more. It still hurts, just not as frequently and not as long. It's awesome.
Our LLC has been approved, so as soon as our checking account is set up we'll go live with JJ's Ice Cream! I'm really excited about it. The website is jjsicecream.com. You can pick your own flavors or do custom flavors. We're also starting our with a special four pack: The Mormon 4-pack. The flavors are Chocolate Mormon Mocha (made with Pero), nursery punch, buttermint and green jello. They've been tested and they are super good! We're coming up with the jack-Mormon 4 pack as well. It's still in the works. I'll let everyone know when the ice cream business goes live. Please buy some and tell your friends!
Thanks for reading. Now that things are a little more positive I'll get to ranting about ridiculous things again.
Friday, April 24, 2020
Friday, April 3, 2020
Organization Will Set You Free
Another week down. When did we become so cynical? It's amazing to me that anytime any piece of good news comes up about this virus it's immediately squashed. It's actually incredibly ridiculous. I consider myself a reformed cynic. It's in my nature to be cynical but I've worked for many years to be an optimist. As a result my cynicism tends to come out as intense hatred of Olive Garden and Cafe Rio. At least I know my cynicism is well deserved.
It's not that I think we should only be wide eyed optimists. Excepting the hard truth of this virus is an important part of taking our own responsibility to help stop it. However any time there is any piece of good news or anyone trying to show any optimism in any way it is quickly squashed. It's OK to have good news regarding the situation we're in. It's OK to know that things will get better. It's OK to hear about good things people are doing. When I look at the media all I see is people saying no one is doing the social distancing. At the same time I see the parking lots empty and the streets empty. There are a lot of people taking this seriously and doing what they're asked to do. There are people who are not and those people need to pull their heads out.
Enjoy the good news that you see. Embrace it. Share it. There is a tremendous amount to be grateful for, even during this time. It's important to be educated and to not underestimate what this virus could do to our country. Be the good you want to see. You'll be amazed at how quickly things will start to look up. Like I wrote last week, find something that makes you happy and do it. If there's a hobby you used to do and now you don't, start it again. If there's something you always wanted to do, start. You've got time. Make it good.
For Priya's birthday she got a toy guitar from Coco. Priya likes it a lot but Mirinda fell in love with it and often would sit on the couch playing it and singing. So I bought her a ukulele. She's so excited about it. The only problem with buying a 6 year old a ukulele is that you've bought a 6 year old a ukulele. She wants to really learn how to play it and I have no idea how to play one. So I guess I'm using my time of social isolation to learn how to play the ukulele so I can teach her how to play it. It should be interesting. Plus I have like 4 Hawaiian shirts that finally fit me again and I need an excuse to wear them.
Something that has constantly occurred to me this week is this: Organization will set you free. I really do believe that. When you always do what you need to do first, then you'll be able to enjoy the things you want to do more. Each morning this week the girls have got up and been given about 10 minutes to do what they want to do and to wake up. Then they start exercising for 10 minutes. It's either Mickey Mouskercize or DDP Yoga for kids. DDP Yoga for kids is being offered for free right now, by the way. After the exercise they have breakfast. These girls never eat breakfast. After exercising they finish their entire breakfast. Then it's homework and get dressed. Since they know exactly what to expect every morning it is so much easier to get them to do it and to give them incentives to do what they need to do. After they've done everything they get to have fun. There is much less fighting and arguing when they know what to expect. I think one of the problems is we have in our mind as adults what should be done and how it should be done. We don't always vocalize that to the kids and as a result they are left trying to guess what we're thinking and sometimes it looks like we are just being unfair or mean when there may be a good reason for the way things are being done. That's where organization comes in. Setting clear expectations and then following those expectations helps kids so much. Not always. Kids are still going to be kids. They're still going to have good days and bad days, good moments and bad moments.
I'm convinced that organization is the key in all this. Organizing priorities, organizing tasks, organizing everything. That's my suggestion this week. Get organized in whatever you need to be organized in. Let the kids help. Let them come up with suggestions and help to organize a plan. They will own it more if they have a hand in creating the organization.
Always do what you need to do first. My dad always told me a story about a fisherman who went out all day and caught four fish. When he came home he was very tired. He knew he had to clean the 4 fish but he thought he would sit down for 15 minutes and rest. After 15 minutes the 4 fish had become 6 fish. The thought of that made him more tired so he rested for another 15 minutes. Now he had 8 fish to clean. That was an overwhelming thought. After an hour of resting he had 20 fish to clean. The thought of that many fish was too tiring to him, exhausted as he was. He gave up and the fish didn't get cleaned.
In reality there was still only 4 fish. But because he decided to do what he wanted to do instead of what he needed to do first it felt like too much to do as he rested. Clean the fish first. Then do what you want to do. You'll enjoy the things you want to do so much more because the things you need to do aren't constantly on your mind expanding and growing until it just seems like there's so much to do.
Just remember this will end. Stay home and stay safe. Make a plan. Get organized. Find the joy where you can. It will get better. And if you need a good laugh or a recommendation on takeout, listen to my podcast.
It's not that I think we should only be wide eyed optimists. Excepting the hard truth of this virus is an important part of taking our own responsibility to help stop it. However any time there is any piece of good news or anyone trying to show any optimism in any way it is quickly squashed. It's OK to have good news regarding the situation we're in. It's OK to know that things will get better. It's OK to hear about good things people are doing. When I look at the media all I see is people saying no one is doing the social distancing. At the same time I see the parking lots empty and the streets empty. There are a lot of people taking this seriously and doing what they're asked to do. There are people who are not and those people need to pull their heads out.
Enjoy the good news that you see. Embrace it. Share it. There is a tremendous amount to be grateful for, even during this time. It's important to be educated and to not underestimate what this virus could do to our country. Be the good you want to see. You'll be amazed at how quickly things will start to look up. Like I wrote last week, find something that makes you happy and do it. If there's a hobby you used to do and now you don't, start it again. If there's something you always wanted to do, start. You've got time. Make it good.
For Priya's birthday she got a toy guitar from Coco. Priya likes it a lot but Mirinda fell in love with it and often would sit on the couch playing it and singing. So I bought her a ukulele. She's so excited about it. The only problem with buying a 6 year old a ukulele is that you've bought a 6 year old a ukulele. She wants to really learn how to play it and I have no idea how to play one. So I guess I'm using my time of social isolation to learn how to play the ukulele so I can teach her how to play it. It should be interesting. Plus I have like 4 Hawaiian shirts that finally fit me again and I need an excuse to wear them.
Something that has constantly occurred to me this week is this: Organization will set you free. I really do believe that. When you always do what you need to do first, then you'll be able to enjoy the things you want to do more. Each morning this week the girls have got up and been given about 10 minutes to do what they want to do and to wake up. Then they start exercising for 10 minutes. It's either Mickey Mouskercize or DDP Yoga for kids. DDP Yoga for kids is being offered for free right now, by the way. After the exercise they have breakfast. These girls never eat breakfast. After exercising they finish their entire breakfast. Then it's homework and get dressed. Since they know exactly what to expect every morning it is so much easier to get them to do it and to give them incentives to do what they need to do. After they've done everything they get to have fun. There is much less fighting and arguing when they know what to expect. I think one of the problems is we have in our mind as adults what should be done and how it should be done. We don't always vocalize that to the kids and as a result they are left trying to guess what we're thinking and sometimes it looks like we are just being unfair or mean when there may be a good reason for the way things are being done. That's where organization comes in. Setting clear expectations and then following those expectations helps kids so much. Not always. Kids are still going to be kids. They're still going to have good days and bad days, good moments and bad moments.
I'm convinced that organization is the key in all this. Organizing priorities, organizing tasks, organizing everything. That's my suggestion this week. Get organized in whatever you need to be organized in. Let the kids help. Let them come up with suggestions and help to organize a plan. They will own it more if they have a hand in creating the organization.
Always do what you need to do first. My dad always told me a story about a fisherman who went out all day and caught four fish. When he came home he was very tired. He knew he had to clean the 4 fish but he thought he would sit down for 15 minutes and rest. After 15 minutes the 4 fish had become 6 fish. The thought of that made him more tired so he rested for another 15 minutes. Now he had 8 fish to clean. That was an overwhelming thought. After an hour of resting he had 20 fish to clean. The thought of that many fish was too tiring to him, exhausted as he was. He gave up and the fish didn't get cleaned.
In reality there was still only 4 fish. But because he decided to do what he wanted to do instead of what he needed to do first it felt like too much to do as he rested. Clean the fish first. Then do what you want to do. You'll enjoy the things you want to do so much more because the things you need to do aren't constantly on your mind expanding and growing until it just seems like there's so much to do.
Just remember this will end. Stay home and stay safe. Make a plan. Get organized. Find the joy where you can. It will get better. And if you need a good laugh or a recommendation on takeout, listen to my podcast.
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