Hello Beautiful People,
As many of you know, Lent started last week and as both a Catholic and a challenge-seeker, I once again participated in this religious ritual. Usually I give up sweets, or ice cream, or cake, or crackers, or all of them. But this year, I had a tough time figuring out what to sacrifice for the next forty days. Eventually, however, I came up with three things: due to complaints about my caffeine intake, I gave up coffee; in an effort to get ready for bikini season, I took up a 15 minute core workout; and to finally to fulfill a promise I’ve made to myself, I have decided to live simply.
I won’t lie – giving up coffee has sucked. For the first four days, I had a pounding headache and I practically drooled when I watched people pick up their Vanilla Lattes from the coffee counter. But it’s gotten a lot easier in the last few days, mostly because I’ve taken up drinking a lot more tea, green tea in particular. I’ve always been a tea drinker, but I didn’t realize all the benefits of tea. In general, I feel a lot better; I’m more energized in the morning and I don’t get as tired during the day. In addition, I find myself drinking a lot more water, which was another goal I made for myself as a New Year’s Resolution. I do miss coffee, don’t get me wrong, but it’s getting easier every day.
Ah, core workouts – the bane of my existence. I can do the running and elliptical no problem, but ask me to do a plank and I’m heading out the door. Unfortunately (okay, fortunately), the core workout I have adopted into my daily routine has four minutes of various kinds of planks, along with 11 additional minutes of grueling abdominal pain. But I’m finding that it gets easier every single day! And after a week of incorporating it into my daily routine, I actually look forward to it now. Of course, there’s the frustration in that working out does not provide instant results, but I’m working on it. And I know I’ll be thanking myself come summer time. Which, by the way, should hurry up and get here.
It took one day of me realizing how complicated I make my life for me to resolve to live simply. What does this mean, you ask? First of all, I’ve stopped spending money that I should have been saving in the first place. Come Good Friday, my bank account will be practically smiling at me. Secondly, I’ve decided to slow down. I always rush through things; I speed walk to class, I rush my text messages, I speed read through my assigned reading. Slowing down has allowed me to notice the little things, like how great UP looks, even when it’s cloudy. Thirdly, I’ve resolved to stop worrying so much. Lately, it seems that I worry myself into a whirlwind of things that don’t even matter or that I’ve created all on my own. So I’m going to stop worrying so much and just enjoy life as it is, which really isn’t all that bad if you think about it. I’ve discovered that if I just take the day as it is, one day at a time, then I’m generally a much happier person.
To all the other people participating in Lent, good luck and remember that the first couple weeks are the toughest! You can do this!