April Fun

It’s April 2nd, I know I am a day late with my monthly resolution review. There seemed to be something wrong about an April Fools’ post and my day was a little busy for reflection. I am reading a great book called The Happiness Project and loved learning that the author, Gretchen Rubin, also suggests a monthly personal progress report. I am really enjoying these monthly check-ups, even last month when I had to fess up to a lackluster February . As I had hoped, March was a motivated month.

I don’t know if it was the end of a long ski season or the change in weather or the fact that I had a bunch of fun events on the calendar but I felt a noticeable change in myself. The funny thing is that I hadn't realized how much I was going through the eating and exercise motions until I switched gears. In terms of my resolutions there was progress. In addition to the Chicago marathon in October, I have a May half marathon scheduled. I've started to run every other day and made the leap from my 30 minute “better than nothing” treadmill runs to 1 hour runs in Central or Riverside Park. Yesterday I purchased a Garmin running watch with GPS built in and new sneakers further cementing my running commitment. What’s really nice is that I am enjoying the challenge rather than feeling burdened.

I actually had another fitness breakthrough of sorts. Last month I told you that I was trapped in my yoga membership and was attending a class but not fully convinced I had yogi potential. Shortly after, I was put on the spot by the yoga teacher in class. He asked “how often do you practice?” I answered truthfully and asked “how often should I practice?” He said it depends, “3 times a week is a good start or you can be like Tatiana and attend 13 classes a week.” Let’s be clear, I will never be like Tatiana (human pretzel in front row of class) but 3 times sounded like a possibility. I got over thinking “what am I doing here, this is soooo not for me” and started trying a little harder. I am a little less worried about being inept. I am looking forward to class; I even did my first bind.

There’s something about my reading resolution I’d also like to share. I had included “read more for pleasure” on my January list. I have joined a book club and loved our first book. The second book wasn’t really up my alley. We have a meeting in 2 weeks to discuss this book. I was dreading finishing the book and decided to read The Happiness Project instead. Funny enough, in the Happiness Project Gretchen Robin discusses reading. She suggested not forcing yourself to finish a book you aren’t enjoying. I am tempted to take this advice but still feel like a bit of a quitter. I like the concept of conscious quitting though. After all, it takes a lot to decide something is not for you….but if I had done this with yoga I would never have started to enjoy it. This will provide food for thought in April for sure.
Was March a motivated month for you? Do you remember and review your resolution(s)? Do you finish books you don’t love? Do you condone conscious quitting?