Day 28 - Perspective

At last... it is February 28th. We've made it to the end of February and to the end of our wellness challenge! I am happy to report I reached my target. Having done this kettlebell challenge for a number of years now, I look at it differently than I did the first time. My perspective has changed.

What I mean is that, the first go around, it was all about the finish line. It was a crazy goal - could I do it? And as we went through the challenge and finally finished it that year, it was amazing.

What is different about this year is that I find myself less concerned with the final result. That struck me as rather odd, but as I think about it, I realize that my perspective has totally changed since that first year's kettlebell challenge. Or, perhaps, I have gained perspective.

Now, I see February not as a crazy month of "wellness activity", but as just another part of the year. It has 11 other 30-ish-day-long compatriots in which we can live actively. About a week in to this year's challenge, I found myself thinking about what to do after February. Well, that and I found myself thinking about how I could make some technical improvements to my kettlebell workouts.

My perspective has switched from focusing on a single February goal to a broader consideration that activity just should be part of my life. All the time, not just during a special month. I enjoy, from time to time, particular challenges (like the kettlebell swings), but I think I have shifted to just always being aware of trying to do something active. If the lake isn't frozen, then it's kayaking adventures, or swimming, or zipping around on my old Supercycle bike, or walking out in the bush. And, aside from a few spells when our pool has been quarantine-closed, we make a point of going to the pool a couple of times a week.

These days, I'm taking a wider-angle perspective to see that wellness really has more to do with adopting a "well" lifestyle than doing some special wellness activities now and again. Having said that, those activities are a great place to START. But, really, it is about being more wellness-oriented this year than you were last year. It is about making progress and cultivating an attitude of daily wellness.

As we wrap up February 2021, and this year's wellness challenge, I encourage you to Be Well, to adopt an attitude of wellness, and a perspective that sees you moving forward on a journey to ever-increasing wellness. 

Well done! And done well.

Day 24 - Maintain

We are rounding the last corner before the finish line on our annual February challenge. This year, my wrist has not bothered me, and I was able to get down to business on my kettlebells. In fact, I was able to crank out my final 40 while on video-chat with my Mom last night. 10,000 Kettlebells are in the history book! It was great to have her in the "crowd" as I crossed the finish line. I'm not sure how many times that has actually happened, come to think of it! It was nice to have some company.

As February winds down, though, it occurrs to me that I don't want to erratically follow some yo-yo kind of activity program; what I really want is to more or less stay in the active zone. Without being extreme, either. Just... active. That brought to mind the idea of maintenance. And that, of course, brought me back to the realm of words.

If you research the history of the word maintain, you will see that it comes from the Latin manu tenere - "to hold in the hand". And before English got ahold of it, Old French had a go with maintenir. Essentially, that also meant... "to hold in the hand". If you think about holding something in your hand - not just for a moment, but continuously - you will have a richer sense of what it means to maintain something.

And that is what I have been thinking about these days. If we mobilize ourselves to do something worthwhile, how do we maintain that forward progress? I am certainly not here to prescribe some magical formula for you. As much as I can encourage you, you are basically on your own when it comes to how you will maintain any progress you have achieved this month.

At the risk of giving advice, here is my advice:

1. Be aware of your choice - we choose the degree to which we maintain (or hold onto) wellness gains. Think about it:  how likely are we to "accidentally" keep up our efforts. Things in the natural world move away from organization toward chaos; we must actively exert an effort to reverse that trend because if we don't, we naturally move toward randomness and chaos.

2. Set worthy goals - even if we don't reach the goals we set, we generally end up somewhere in the ballpark of those goals. Put some quality thought into what you aim yourself toward.

3. Develop an Inner Circle - we all need some key encouragers who know us well enough not to be overly-impressed by our smokescreens, yet who are still on our side, in our corner, behind us all the way... pick your cliché. These folks are not our adoring "fans", but rather our butt-kickers (well, as needed, and apologies to my mom for that comment. She raised me better than that).

Three points are enough. You know what you need to do.

Day 20 - Priorities and Timing

What a week! I was busy at work and busy at home. Which means I was doubly busy at home because I'm working from home. At least, it felt doubly busy. One negative I grapple with all the time is the separation of home from work. It was easy when I could just walk out of the office. Now I have to consciously log off at go-home time, and it's not always easy. Nonetheless, I did successfully take a day off yesterday, and it was an excellent way to recharge my batteries.

The last week has been tight to make time for blog-writing. So I didn't. Well, not exactly. I drafted a few ideas, but they weren't polished enough to publish. That may be presumptuous...

Anyway, the highlight from yesterday - the week, really - was fishing. I usually go out with #1 son, but he was working, so I went solo. I'm sure he worried about me (or, rather, his ice shack) the whole time, but I miraculously was able to get there and get set up just fine.

Priority 1: open up the hole inside the shack. We've had some nasty cold weather, so I had to drill out about 24" of fresh ice. But that was the first thing to do, so the exhaust could clear while I unloaded the sleigh and chopped some wood for a fire.

Priority 2: get the fire going. It wasn't really cold yesterday, but a nice cozy fire is psychologically very comforting and relaxing. AND... you can warm up your soup on it!

Priority 3: get a minnow on the hook and the line down the hole. About 8 minutes in, fish #1 came calling. Nearly. I got him right up to the top of the hole and he spit out the hook. He was too small anyway. But it was a good sign - the fish were biting. Minnow back down and on to the next priority.

Priority 4: call Grandma (my mom, actually). Part of the busyness this week and, really, this month, has been resettling my mom. Fortunately, my sister lives (lived) very close to mom and has been a huge help with boots on the ground. After mom's move, she has to contend with yet one more COVID quarantine, so she's a bit bored. I had told her I'd try to call her when I got set up fishing.

So, after Mr. Minnow went back down the hole, I called Mom on Messenger. Very cool! I was able to show her around - me lounging on the bunk with my feet up, my soup warming up on the stove, the view out the windows... and then I noticed my line jumping. "Hang on, Mom. I gotta switch my camera and stand up the phone." Which I promptly did and then reeled in a nice fish while she was watching! Talk about good timing. Mom was almost as excited as I was. The visit was nice, but she said she felt as if she'd actually been ice fishing. And that's cool because she's originally from Britain, and they don't typically venture out onto frozen lakes over there. If they could even find one!

I am so glad I had thought about calling her, and catching the fish was really just exceptional timing. But she really enjoyed the experience and it was a good boredom buster for her. As we hung up, she commented on how she really hoped they had fish for supper that night.

Some priorities are less negotiable or discretionary than others. Setting up the shack has a natural order of tasks that really speeds up a) getting your line in the water, and b) your comfort. Deciding what you're going to do with your "free time" while out there is more discretionary for sure, but as I said, I'm so glad I had made it a priority to call Mom.

And this week, I was working diligently on the kettlebells, which have been going very well this year. But Thursday was kettlebell day, AND our pool just reopened, so I swam for 45 minutes also. I could say I did a pool workout, but that would be an untruth. So today when I picked up the kettlebells, the old bod' set its own priority and that was to not complete the original target. Phew!

I've realized that this is perfectly okay. There was a time, when I would have had stress about deviating from schedule, but I'll say I'm older and, hopefully, wiser. Listen to your body when you are working out and don't overdo it. As I have said before, I'm not training for the Olympics, so it's all good.

My overall priority is to do something for wellness as frequently as possible, and if that involves fishing instead of work (it was approved!), so be it. Set priorities that are sensible to you and do not unravel any gains you may have already made. Enjoy yourself.

Update from Mom... They had fish.

Day 13 - What Does it Take to be Proud of Yourself?

We're not quite half-way through February, so we've had time to establish our track record for the wellness challenge. Tackling a big challenge, especially a physically demanding one that requires endurance, we often start off with smaller efforts that grow over the course of the challenge. That reflects our adaptation to physical stress; literally, it is a performance effect caused by stress.

I think most of us have heard that Canadians are likely to be polite and reserved and, though not always the case, I consider that to be generally true. One might go so far as to say Canadians are often humble; my jury is still out on that one, but I would say that we don't typically celebrate ourselves or our achievements. At least, not on a large scale.

So, you don't often see people throwing their own parades.

Today, I want to go a bit counter-culture and ask what it would actually take to throw ourself (if that is a word) a parade?

If you're like me, that thought was initially a bit jarring - imagine throwing yourself your own parade. But maybe, for a moment, it wouldn't hurt to think about it.

Is it okay to be proud of ourselves? Like, a bit over-the-top proud? Once in awhile? I think the obvious answer to that is, "Yes", but do we every really let ourselves go there?

Assuming that our default setting is underpride, my suggestion is that, this month, we throw caution to the wind and celebrate our wellness successes... even if we are the only one at our socially-distant parade.

Let's assume you've been working away on some kind of wellness activity this month. Even doing something is an accomplishment, especially if doing nothing is more typical for you.

Recognize your accomplishments.

Affirm yourself (maybe to a close friend or family member). YOU have taken steps toward greater wellness.

Even if this is new for you, try it out, and allow yourself to feel some well-deserved pride.

We have two weeks to go in the challenge, but keep up your good work.

And on March 1st, plan yourself a parade!

Day 11 - Movie 4...

If you live in central Canada, you will know that we have endured a rather sudden and extended cold snap. I mean, Snap! It's Cold!

Outdoor activities have been limited, at least a little bit, so our after-work routine is now almost wordless. Except today when I basically forgot until my wife reminded me - "Aren't you doing kettlebells today?"

How could I forget that?

Easy.

But when she reminded me, my first thought was, "Oh man, the rest of the movie! How could I forget that? I'm mid-way through my fourth movie of the February challenge.

For me, the biggest challenge with doing a bunch of kettlebells is boredom and distraction. After a few years at it (well, a few Februaries, anyway), I can almost say that I actually look forward to my movie-watching, rather than trying to muster up the motivation to do kettlebells.

So, if you have chosen a wellness activity that is, shall we say, physically demanding, it is nice to sweeten it up with something that you enjoy. And build it in to your wellness activity so you also get something fun out of it.

Be sure to reward yourself with something enjoyable at a healthy enough dose to make the challenge worth it.

Should finish the move next workout, then... on to Movie 5.

Day 10: Return On Investment

You are probably familiar with the concept of ROI, or return on investment. Embedded in that concept is the view that an input of some kind - money, time, effort, etc - will result in an output of some kind, and the net result is generally that you end up with more than you started with.

Most people, from my experience, do not guarantee a positive return. That is the purpose of the fine print. However, I think it is fair to say that most people pushing investments are quite happy to let you believe it's a sure thing because you are likely to invest more.

As I am in the habit of doing, I like to turn familiar concepts on their ear, mostly for fun, but also because it forces me to consider their real meaning. So, my twist today is... what if we instead use the phrase, "Investment For Return". I even made an acronym:  IFR (sorry, pilots).

So the idea behind this IFR is that we focus on our investment, rather than our return. The PR folks in the audience just groaned and accused me - accurately - of sucking the glamour out of the idea. The "spin" of what you're going to get* can be intoxicating, so why on earth would anyone focus on what you have to invest?

Seriously!  Investing is basically voluntarily agreeing to give something up for a period of time with the view that, when the time is up, you will get back your investment* and a sizeable return* along with it. You'll be ahead of where you started, and the cost to you was merely the inconvenience of doing without that initial investment. I would argue that we really need to shift our focus from the sometimes-elusive returns* and instead focus on this dry-toast reality: investing in our own wellness costs us.

The true positive return on our personal wellness investments is entirely different from what we may have previously thought. It is a level of mental toughness which, once gained, can simply be used anywhere in our life. If you ever experience self-doubt, you are familiar with the negative mental conversations where you highlight your failings but cannot identify anything to argue them away. Well, consider this:

Once you have tried something - done something, made an effort - to invest in your wellness, whatever that may be, you have ACTIVATED yourself. Those actions, however short-lived or seemingly insignificant, immediately smash the glass of good intentions that sound so wonderful but are really just puffery. You have acted. You have made an investment. You have done whatever you needed to do to move beyond intention to action. And as non-glitzy as that may be, I consider that to be the true return.

The investment IS the return. The moment you activate yourself and do something to improve your wellness, you have achieved what I believe is the least-known and hardest-to-market return:

Agency - "the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power"

- Miriam-Webster Online Dictionary

In my view, we have largely lost the concept of our own agency, the idea that we are decision-making beings who can plan actions and execute them... that we can make things happen.

So, go make things happen in your own wellness journey. Invest for return.

I've just been ticketed by the Italics Police, so it's time to wind this down.

 

*Returns in your case may be smaller than they appear.

Day 8 - Have Some Fun With Your Wellness!

I had a fun weekend which ended yesterday (but today as I'm writing it). I can't tell you who won the Superbowl, because it's just starting in a few minutes as I write. But I can tell you that we had a great weekend, and that all started last week when we decided to host an hors d'oeuvres party for Superbowl. In all honesty, we didn't know who was playing, but the fun part was actually having a plan to have some fun. Like, before it happened.

In this quarantine season, we made a plan. Something fun to look forward to, to actually get ready for. Even though we couldn't have company over or go to friends (our usual Superbowl tradition), we would at least get to enjoy 3 different hors d'oeuvres, because we each "brought" something. To our own house!

And we tried making our own hoagie rolls this year.

How does this relate to the wellness challenge? We intentionally created some wellness by planning something that would be fun and that we could actually anticipate, which I have been doing all week. In fact, during the last kettlebell set, I was thinking ahead to the nachos, guac and jalapeno poppers.

So, we had fun planning. We had fun coming up with recipes. We had fun getting ingredients together. We had fun watching dough rise (well, I kind of did). I could go on, but I'm about to have more fun FINALLY EATING THIS STUFF.

Mix it up!  Have some fun!

[Monday Update:  the hoagie rolls were a hit]

Day 7: It Ain't Fancy, But It Works

Part of me used to get sucked up into the appearances of wellness - new equipment, a fancy workout space, and all the latest accessories. A whole industry [opinion alert] caters to not only those who seriously want to work hard and perform, but also to those who want to appear to belong. I learned about this a long time ago, but one of my kids actually put it into concrete, measurable data (did I mention I'm a data analyst?).

He did a science project to measure hockey stick performance based on the price/quality of the stick and the experience level of the player. [Pretty clever, I'd say]. In a nutshell, what he found was that, for a low-experience player, the quality of the stick made no difference to performance. The interesting finding, though, was that, in the hands of an experienced hockey player, the stick does make a difference; a skilled player will get significantly better performance from a high-quality stick.

Here are some things I draw from that:

• EXPERIENCE and DILIGENCE (the hard work) generate the potential for high performance. They don't guarantee high performance, but they make it possible.
• High-end equipment does not automatically confer high performance on the user, but it can make you look good to other fancy-equipment devotees.
• The true significance of this little science project lies in its conclusion that there is an interaction between skill level and equipment quality. Top-end equipment only makes a top-end difference in the hands of a person with top-end experience and diligence.
  

And so I'd like to share my slightly tongue-in-cheek equipment setup with you as encouragement that you probably don't need anything fancy if your objective is to be active (I'm not training for the Olympics).

This is the bike I use to spin for a few minutes to warm up before the KBs. My bike is a Supercycle 10-speed road bike which I "procured" from our local landfill.  It was missing pedals, but it had a tall frame so it fits me. Had a great awkward moment when a salesman at a bike shop in the city asked me where I got my bike. Nothing says impressive like Supercycle from the landfill...  Also, I have a wind trainer for the bike, which also sounds impressive until I tell you where I got it. Yes... the landfill.  It was missing a bolt.

Because I've done quite a bit of cycling, I got some aerobars for comfort (and aerodynamics!!) and then put mountain bike bar ends on as grips.

My oldest son (of hockey stick experiment fame) observed: "Dad - your bike looks like a moose." Okay - I have to give him that one.

Point being, it ain't fancy, but it works. And I can rest easy knowing I did not overbuy my equipment.

All of this is to say that you don't need fancy stuff before you can work on your physical wellness. Grab what you can find and, as long as it is safe, use it and get active. If you really want to develop skills in that area, put in the time and effort required to truly benefit from the top-end equipment.

So grab your old shoes, or whatever, and hop to it.

BE WELL!!

Final thought: I would love to hear from you if you have comments about the blog, or about your wellness journey. I'm feeling a bit COVID-deprived... :)

"Why February? you asked...

 

Not much needs to be said, eh?

Originally, we reasoned that there is not much to do in February, so it was a lesser-of-all-evils sort of default month for a wellness challenge.  But - and I don't know where you are located right now - the thought of me sticking my nose outside today makes even kettlebells look appealing!

To try to up-spin this a bit, consider the long-term impact of accepting and facing adverse conditions. Not the short-term impact, which is often discouragement, discomfort and, alliteratively, demoralization. You have to look farther ahead if you want to conquer adversity. To overstretch an analogy, think about even the fact that our eyes are set into our head in such a way that our natural gaze is FORWARD, focusing well ahead of us. It is a bit unnatural to crank your head down and look in the direction of your toes. This forward-focused perspective allows us to not only see what is coming toward us, but also to see over top of immediate obstacles.

It's February. It's cold. I don't always feel like doing things that I know are good for me. The important question, though, is "What perspective do I choose?"

 My answer is to choose a forward-focused perspective and keep moving toward your wellness goals!
 

DAY 4 Already! The Wellness Conundrum

Well, I'm four days and (two movies) into February and our wellness challenge. I am a bit surprised to observe that this year's transition into the challenge was not too bad. I know what to expect, for sure, and I think my oldish frame just went into autopilot without the usual mind games and stalling tactics. More kettlebells per movie minute than last year. And, as a data analyst, I can say that.

I hope you're managing to keep your motivation up. It's been a difficult year, with many things seeming to be out of our immediate control. Your wellness is one thing that you do have at least some control over. In fact, I would argue that we have management of our wellness. That means both the ability to influence our own wellness and a responsibility to do just that.

Our wellness is not an accident, and there certainly are factors outside of ourselves that impact our wellness. But not everything is out of our control. That is the conundrum - the fluid relationship between our external circumstances and our internal motivation.

Take control over what you can control. Make plans to improve wellness. Strike out in that direction. Adjust course when circumstances dictate.

But, above all, remember that you are not a passive, helpless bystander to your own wellness. You may have let yourself slip back to what feels like that... but if you point yourself in a positive direction and start moving, you can regain at least some of the lost ground.

Carpeing the Diem [Ouch]

Apologies ad infinitum to my mother, who, incidentally, knows more Latin than anyone I personally know. In fact, this is my second apology for the linguistically horrid title; I already dished that line out on her earlier today. After the laugh, I asked her, "Hey - how do you make that English "ing" in Latin anyway?"

And she told us.

Apparently, this refers to the "present continuous" tense, and she went on to explain how you make it out of infinitives and something else, and I got a bit lost as I was on my phone and not taking notes...

But who really cares, right? What is the significance of that small piece of information? Well, you're reading the blog, so I'll assume you're curious enough to learn the significance of it.

Mom is a few degrees north of 79 now, and she has been tracking with Parkinson's for over a decade. In spite of the ever-increasing ways Parkinson's steals bits of neural functioning, she has kept her good attitude and her sharp wit. And she had at least a bit of fun schooling me.

I referenced that carpe diem phrase in a blog post a few years ago (February 17, 2019 - I checked), but I decided I could recycle it here because when you are presented with a good opportunity, you're usually not doing yourself any favours by just letting it go by. Take it. With all the bluster of Sir Peter Ustinov's King John, SE-E-E-E-IZE it (as if it were Robin Hood). Grab hold of it.

That's the point today, on Day 2 of the 2021 Challenge: Seize the Day! You have the rest of the month to work on your wellness and, hopefully, you'll also want to support Parkinson's research at the end of the challenge.

Oh, and an update on the Kettlebells. I'm at 920, Dave. Just sayin'.  And 1 1/2 movies in.

Bonus question:  Guess what movie I watched first this year?

Heigh Ho! Heigh Ho! It's Off to February We Go...

Hard to believe February is here again, and it has been a very challenging year to say the least! I have said most of what I wanted to say already, so I will try not to repeat myself.

Updates:

• The 10,000 Kettlebell Challenge 2021 edition is a go
• We are awaiting confirmation of some details from the RUH Foundation about the endowment fund we're promoting (for Parkinson's Research)
  
• I already started with the KBs and, as usual for the last week of January, I have sore hamstrings.

Good luck with your own personal challenge!

Richard