Life in the very fast lane...: We are now on week two of January out of four and ...

Life in the very fast lane...: We are now on week two of January out of four and ...: We are now on week two of January out of four and a half weeks.   Resolutions made – tick; sticking to resolutions – semi-tick; challenges...

We are now on week two of January out of four and a half weeks.  Resolutions made – tick; sticking to resolutions – semi-tick; challenges to resolutions – double tick.

Apart from trying to only see the good in people, and say good things about people, is the resolution I call “project body beautiful”.  To be honest, this has been a resolution for a few years now, but this year that is 2013, I decided I really do want to take it seriously. 

So the new eating plan has begun – less wine (the hardest part), less carbohydrates (bear in mind that if I were on death row and I was asked what my last meal should be, it would a four cheese pizza, as large as possible, extra anchovies), more exercise, more water, more raw food… blah blah, we all know the tricks of the diet trade.

Seeing as how I have now turned the big 4-0, I decided that today was the day to re-look at the running programme.  Waking up early is never a problem for me - given nearly seven years of motherhood - lazy late mornings are just something I used to do.  So off I set looking what I thought was uber cool.  New York Yankees t-shirt, long grey track pants hiding a multitude of sins, followed by one times ankle guard for messed up ankle (party injury) and one times knee guard for messed up knee (skiing injury post cocktails halfway up a mountain in Switzerland).  Uber cool?  Perhaps not.

So off I set, and in the spirit of all things weight loss, I decided to tackle a hill before anything else.  The first five meters were actually not too bad, then things started going downhill rapidly.  Before I knew it, I was huffing and puffing my way up what would be to others a gentle gradient, which to me, was like running up Mount Everest without boots on.  I made it twenty five meters and had no choice but to stop, and look around for where I had left my lungs.  Two security guards in a neighbouring complex started to laugh at me, and frankly, who could blame them?  I had a Bridget Jones moment right then and there, and wondered if I should be wearing the undersized bloomers to match the rest of my now sweaty attire.

Ever the persistent one, I broke out into a gentle jog, and attempted the hill again.  The heavy legs started to shake, the derriere broke out into a speed wobble, and quite frankly, any New York Yankees player would not be happy to see me wearing one of their fan shirts.  But carry on I did, head down, praying for the end of the road with more enthusiasm than I would have for that four cheese pizza. 

Finally, the end of the road was there to meet me, and I turned around, and managed, with some weight literally behind me, to shoot down the tar track with such speed that even good old “Beep Beep” from the Road Runner cartoon would not be able to catch me.  Imagine the surprise of the security guards when they saw the haggard individual who minutes earlier staggered past them, come shooting past in front of them, with such speed and glee, they almost had whiplash as they watched me pass.

This pattern, I am afraid to say, was repeated more than twice, and became funnier and funnier as the footsteps progressed.

And so, the moral of this story:  When life throws you that desperate uphill, put your head down and tread carefully; when life throws you that long and easy path – run as fast as your legs will take you, appreciate what it is you have managed to achieve to get there, and enjoy the rush of the summer wind through your disheveled hair.

Life in the very fast lane...: And so, 2013 has begun, and we are just over a wee...

Life in the very fast lane...: And so, 2013 has begun, and we are just over a wee...: And so, 2013 has begun, and we are just over a week into what I am choosing to believe will be the most fabulous year yet.   As with ...

And so, 2013 has begun, and we are just over a week into what I am choosing to believe will be the most fabulous year yet. 

As with all new year’s, resolutions are made; and as with all new year’s, resolutions require hard work and extreme dedication in order to stay focused and stay on the path one makes for oneself. 

I found my inspiration for my personal 2013 resolutions whilst sitting on a deck, overlooking a pristine lagoon, with a glass of chilled white wine next to me, listening to the waves crashing in the not so far distance. Somehow, when you are closer to nature, and the ocean in particular, inspiration does not seem too tricky at all.  Throw in a glass of sauvignon blanc, and you are inspired with ease. 

I had to have a good look at myself (luckily not literally given my current post-holiday body shape), and work out what it was that really could do with a bit of tweaking and some vast improvement.  I realized that what I loathe the most in life, is being judged by others – fairly or unfairly, I grow wild with anger when I am judged and criticized.  I feel that “no one has a right to judge” as often you are not walking in the same shoes as the person you are criticizing.  Of course, if the shoes are Chanel ballet pumps, I would most certainly consider walking in their shoes.  But moving on, it became clear to me after my second glass of wine, that the reason I loathe this judgement and criticism just mentioned, is that this has been, up to now, a character flaw of mine. 

I can tell you for free, that this was a “light bulb moment” for me.

So, with the blink of an eye, I had my primary resolution – I will choose to look for only the good in others, and the secondary, complimentary resolution – I will try my very, very best not to judge the behaviour and words of others – and here comes the clanger – “no matter what they do to me or say about me”.  Of course, the last part is the hardest part.  It is so easy when you are being criticized to shoot back some sort of criticism, even if it is not expressed verbally, but rather, you rant and rave in your own mind and think of all the things you would want to say to that person, using language that would better described as “pigeon French”. 

But here’s the thing - it is very rare that the individual who criticizes you is “all bad”.  In fact, what is more likely to be the case is that, for some reason, this particular person has some type of unhappiness in their own life, and you happen to be the nearest target.  It is rare even, that the criticism is personal – very often, it is just a deflection of something bad that is going on in their universe. 

So the lesson, from me, to me, is a simple one: this year, the year that I know will be utterly and completely brilliant, I choose to look for only the positive in others.  I choose to look for the silver linings on the Cumulonimbus clouds; I choose to look for the day rather than the night; I choose to laugh more and cry less; I choose to rather win friends than influence people; I choose to have my cup of Lady Grey tea as one that is half full, rather than half empty; and most of all, I choose to work so hard this year, and do so well this year, that by this time next year, those Chanel ballet pumps I mentioned earlier… will be 110%, entirely mine. 

Happy 2013 everyone.