January | 2014 | The Wildberry Patch

I wrote Welcome 2014 almonst a month ago.
Since that time, I have made a choice to move at least 15 minutes a day, for 100 days – heading to 30, based on the Penguin’s Challenge.

The first few days were rough…5-10 minutes 3 times.
It is only three weeks to the Tenacious Texas Test of Toughness meet up…and I feel like I am a non-athlete. I do not want to go, because I will not fit in…everyone on this NerdFitness forum is DOING SOMETHING. I am trying to just WALK!!!

side note – I had to get back involved with Nerd Fitness because my daughter, my new coach, insisted that I get into a group for accountability. I have avoided this group since my epic failure almost 2 years ago.

By orders of my coach, I am using My Fitness Pal app to track my calories.

I pulled out Map My Walk app, and started to time myself on:
1/8/2014. .26 mile in 7:38 min. I didn’t even bother to calculate the speed. That wasn’t the only dog walk…but, it was a walk.
(computations done at unit juggler)
I pulled out my heart rate monitor, and decided to try a new thing…fasting lower intensity cardio…keeping my HR down to fat burning levels for a fasting period of time.
A.M. Fat burn discusses the pros and cons…and I am doing this to help mobilize the fat out of my liver….and other places. Your mileage may vary

1/9/2014 – I walked a mile for the first time in several years. 1.18 in 26:11. 2.3 mph. Not 5k race material…but a start. I got the 30 minutes in one stretch. I paused the app when the dog had to stop!

1/10/2014 – 1.16 in 25:39. 2.4 mph
1/11/2014 – .83 in 26.57. for some reason that comes up as 2.3mph.
1/12/2014 – I spent hours and hours walking sideways spackling and painting the apartment walls. didn’t take a ‘walk’ – but I got my “30 minutes” in!
1/13/2014 – I CAN’T MOVE! my legs and back are in so much pain that I can barely move myself. Freaking out that I hurt myself AGAIN, but then, dear husband remembered what I did the day before…. that spackling and painting…to the right, to the right, next room, to the right…I just hurt because I worked!

For Monday and Tuesday, 1/13 and 1/14, dog walks added up to 30 minutes, plus stretches…and attempts at squats.

Now we are up to:
1/15/2014 1.15 in 29:30. THAT’S 2.06 MPH!!! I’M WORSE!!! Oh wait – this was recovery from all that pain from Monday! Ok, so I don’t freak out. much.
1/16/2014 – Clean the apartment. My friend, DEAR friend, Mitzi came with me to clean the apartment. 2 hours in the AM, 2 hours in the PM…I got my workout in. No walk, specifically, other than walking the dog!
1/17/2014 – 1.08 in 34:06. 1.71 mph – but I knew that I had forgotten to pause the time when someone stopped to talk to me. I’m ok with this timing.
1/18 and 1/19 were spent at Florida’s RV show…walking around the State Fairgrounds.
Again – I got my walking in…just not documented.
1/20 No idea, I guess I rested…but got the 30 minutes in stretches and strength, and dog walks combined.
1/21/2014 – .52 and .4 – a mile split in two – I got my 30 minutes in…and almost a mile (and definitely if you count the other short dog walks!)

So now I am up to the day we are to fly out to Dallas – and I am still nervous.

I have not done any lifting.
I have not done any squats.
I have not walked a 5k(which was my goal, set to hit on May 31st…or do some Memorial Day 5k).
I am fat.
I am old.
I am certain I will not fit in.
I was falling into a deep dive of depression…and trying to figure out how to get out of going. If it wasn’t for our friends hosting this gig, I may have bowed out!

On the upside…

I have completed 20 days of Paleo in preparation.
I have done movement for 21 days…and
I have added some other goals to this plan.

I am improving myself, by God’s grace, Jim’s support, Rachel’s guidance, and some help from some new friends at Nerd Fitness.

Next – What happened in Texas?

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

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I may be a bit strange…well, yes, I am peculiar….but I have a way of looking at the new year that sort of gets some folks down.

It is like a new salvation confession.

During December, in the midst of all the celebrations, I look at my life as if I am going to meet the Lord Jesus. Of course, that IS what folks supposedly celebrate on Dec 25, welcoming the Lord Jesus into their lives – but that discussion is for another blog!

I look at the Old year as, well, my old life….it is passed away by 2014…and I look it over as if I was preparing for my confession of Christ as my savior. Sort of like one would do before their public baptism.

What things troubled me last year?

What things needed help last year?

What were my weak areas?

What were, if any, my strong areas?

DID MY LIFE SCREAM JESUS EVERYWHERE I WENT?

Well, of course, there are times that our lives should just whisper Jesus – but the point is, did I shine the light of Jesus to those around me? Or did I hide my light under a bushel?

2013 was a year of recovery.

2013 was a year of acceptance.

2013 was a year of resting and leaning on Jesus.

Yes, I failed.

I failed in my consistency of blogging.
I failed in my consistency of painting.
I failed in my consistency of writing…or writing the books at all!
and those are just the public failures!

But were those my goals or God’s goals????

I was blessed to help out our daughter, Faith, around her baby boy’s birth.
I was blessed to enjoy a week of vacation with our son and his family here in Florida.
I was blessed to visit some ‘old’ friends in Ohio.
I was blessed to take a road trip with my daughter, Rachel.
I was blessed to go on some trips with my husband.
I was blessed to walk up FOUR lighthouses!
I was blessed to get to see two cousins that I hadn’t seen in years…one that was my ‘older sister’ cousin, and one that was my ‘younger sister’ cousin.
I was blessed to learn that milk and bread mess up my body and cause pain.
I was blessed to learn about alkaline ionized water, and how it benefits my body to enable me to do many more things with my chronic illnesses.
I was blessed to learn that I could choose my food…my food did not dictate or, rather, my emotions did not dictate my food.
I was blessed to learn that my husband and I love each other more and more than we did when we got married…with 34 years of experiences, good and bad, shared.

In all of those, I learned many things.

Did I get done the things I thought I was supposed to get done? no.

Some of that is my fault…some of that is what God brought down my path.

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Ps 16:11)

I say I want to walk the path God gives me…that I want Him to lead me and be the light unto my feet, and the lamp unto my path…but

do I follow? or,
do I follow willingly? or,
do I follow unbegrudgedly? or,
do I whine? or,
do I embrace JOY? and accept HIS pleasures (listed above as blessings)?

The sheep don’t whine about following the shepherd.

Those that wander, he breaks their leg, so that they learn to stay near…

I have had several years of learning to be still….the last surgery was a HUGE be still lesson.

But, that was last year.

Just as someone that is going to their baptism, their public confession of Faith…that is in the past. When I confess my sins, he is faithful to forgive and to cleanse me of all my sins (1 John 1:9).

That is what my evaluation of last year is all about.

Then, 2014 – all things are new….I have been washed in the blood – and my time before me is NEW…just as after my confession of sin, and confession of the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, I am a new creation…old things are passed away, all things become new(2 Cor 5:17)!!!

So, I start this year with some new goals…I’ll write about that in another blog. But, 1/1 seems to be a great time for a NEW start.

I will fail…but He is the glory and the lifter of my head(Ps 3:3).

I will succeed…but I am weak, success is because HE is strong(2 Cor 12:10)…

and I will flounder…I still live in this body of flesh…Romans 7

But I will work out my own salvation with fear and trembling(Phil 2:12)…I will press on towards the mark of the prize of the high calling of Christ Jesus…I will continue to run this race….because I know what is at stake! Eternity! 1 cor 9:24; Heb 12:1-2; Phil 3:14

BTW – every evening can be a re-eval of your day, and every morning can be a new day – weeping may be for the night, but joy comes in the morning.(Ps 30:5)