DAY FOUR: The Rest Of The Story

The late Paul Harvey was famous for his short radio segment known as The Rest of the Story. What I recall was the suspense I felt listening to each story, knowing that the ending would have some kind of twist.

Strange intro for a blog, perhaps, but there is a point. It is easy to lock into a particular view of things early in the game, so to speak, and then shut off our critical-thinking. I believe we often to this to our own detriment (realistic), if not to our own peril (dramatic).

I refer here to how we think about engaging in a wellness challenge such as this one. I don't know exactly how to best categorize it, so you'll notice that I don't make a big distinction between wellness and fitness when I refer to our 10,000 Kettlebell Challenge for Parkinsons. Regardless of the term(s) I use, though, I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking it's all about the activity: 10,000 Kettlebell swings; 20 pushups/day; spending more time outside; increasing our social contact; and so on...

The challenge today is mostly in relation to physical activity challenges. However, you can decide whether this applies to your situation if you are doing some other type of wellness challenge. Improving wellness comprises activities in at least seven different areas (physical wellness is just one), so there are LOTS of ways to boost your wellness. Regardless of you chosen activity, here is the challenge:

Rest. Take a break. Build occasional inactivity into your schedule, or maybe even a snooze! As far as what "rest" means, The Oxford English Dictionary has several definitions. The most common (and familiar) ones include the dual elements of stopping something you were doing and recovering or regaining strength. These elements are clearly connected; you intentionally stop the activity in order to recover.

Don't get so caught up in any wellness-improvement plan that you actually wear yourself out. It is critical that you stress your physical system in a strengthening regime, but equally important are the recovery periods in between periods of exertion. In fact, the strengthening effect takes place during those recovery periods. That, literally, is what the recovery is.

The message here is simple. Set goals for yourself. Take on challenges, and work hard. But don't forget to rest. You need it. So, to quote Paul Harvey, "...now you know the rest of the story."

DAY THREE: We're Into It Now!

I had planned to do up the post ahead of time like I usually do, and then schedule it to publish in the middle of the night. And then it warmed up and it got snowy. The super-cold deep freeze over most of Canada lifted a bit. When I saw that weekend temperature blast way up from -35C into the mid -20s, I knew it was time to go FISHING!

So that's exactly what I did. Saturday morning at 7:00am (-26C, FYI) I fired up the snowmachine, loaded up the gear and headed to the ice shack for the day with my oldest son. We had an awesome time, and found three cooperative pickerel who were willing to share their day with us (we'll enjoy them later).

Along with that warm weather, came the snow - a truckload of it. When I got back from fishing, I "got to" clear the driveway; twice - once last night and again this morning. That delayed blog-writing a bit, but didn't prevent it.

I'm trying to do more things that invest in wellness, and take on opportunities a bit more spontaneously. The upshot of that was that the DAY THREE blog will be a wee bit "fresher" today than usual, because I didn't write it ahead of time.

Someone looking for a silver lining would point out - "Hey! You're already warmed up for kettlebells!"

True. Not sure I'm thrilled about it, but it's true. I'm warmed up. I have a kettlebell window, and I think we're going fishing again this afternoon.  Better get at it if I'm going to get those KBs done.

Blog OUT.

DAY TWO: Feeling It...

I'm glad I started getting ready for the challenge before we got to February. I was able to do my DAY ONE workout as planned (well, almost as planned). The only ill effects I'm experiencing are that my legs feel tired. Last week, I was stiff. But that's to be expected as I don't usually swing kettlebells during the year, so I'm not accustomed to it.

The toughest part about yesterday's workout was getting my movie going. Who knew that older Wii
consoles stopped their Netflix support... on JANUARY 31ST - the very day our challenge started. So it took me half an hour to find a device that would hook up to the TV.

I suppose the optics of this are not perfect; it seems like I was more interested in my movie than the workout. Okay, true. I was looking for the distraction, because kettlebells can become a bit monotonous.

In the final analysis, though, does it really matter? Nope. I did my workout as scheduled and, to be honest, I enjoyed the movie. Nothing like a good shoot'em up when you're trying to distract yourself from tired limbs.

So, if you need some distraction for your workout here or there, go for it. Good that you're doing the workout! Keep up the good work.

DAY ONE: Welcome to Day One of our Fourth Annual Challenge!

If you're joining us for the challenge this year, congratulations! Over the month of February, we hope you will take your wellness to a new level. And not just by doing an activity for a month. The big idea, really, is that the experience will cement the idea of WELLNESS into your thinking - all the time.

So, your challenge needs to be at least a bit fun, and it should be a challenge that pushes you a bit out of your comfort zone. It should be difficult enough that, when you look back on it, you will be able to say you accomplished something.

I may have said this in the past, but I really believe we don't get our self-esteem from participation ribbons; we get self-esteem from accomplishments, from achieving something. Our mission should be to always be working to achieve something meaningful and which just exceeds our grasp, to paraphrase Robert Browning. So if I were to sum it up, it would go like this:

Accomplishment requires effort.

Effort requires motivation.

Motivation requires determination.

Determination is guided by attitude.

Attitude is a decision.


I hope that through this February challenge, your attitude will point toward taking your wellness more seriously. 27 days to go!