52 Over 50—Getting up and getting out
What happens when you write a blog and call it 52 Over 50, a blog aimed at getting up and getting out, about revving things up and getting things done? Well, sometimes the lure of the couch is a little too much, the call of the bag of chips in the pantry a bit too strong. Yes, I’ve been slacking.
In my defense, I’ve still been writing. I launched A Trail of Embers in May, and completed Stripped, the first book in the Port Fling Romance series I’m co-writing with Kim McDonald. I’ve still gone adventuring (camping with an almost three-year-old is an adventure.) I just haven’t done as much as I planned.
Where did I go wrong? Where did it fall apart? I can’t really blame the TV. I hardly ever get my hands on the remote, so it’s not a contributing factor. I could blame Candy Crush, I suppose. It does waste time. A few days ago, someone told me that the game was his recent addiction. He discovered it while his wife was in labour. It was a long labour, and he made it through a lot of levels.
It’s time to revisit Kaizen and the principles of organization. I appear to have lost my grip on Shitsuke—the sustain part of the equation. Come to think of it, my garage has lost its hold on that reality as well.
I’ve been thinking about getting back into the spirit of this adventure for a while. Thinking you note, not blogging. Yesterday, I figured out where I’d gone astray in the motivation department. I’m a number person, a list maker. I need my Fitbit to get moving. My old clip on step counter suffered one too many washing machine cycles. I’ve been numberless for a while. The app on my phone doesn’t cut it—I don’t carry my phone everywhere. At the end of the day it’s depressing to find out you’ve taken 1458 steps during an eight-hour shift. It’s hard for an app to work when the phone is siting in a purse.
Yesterday, I gave into temptation and bought a shiny new Fitbit, logged my first 10,000 steps and closed the bag of Doritos sitting on my desk. My reboot starts tonight with a Robert Plant concert in the city. Getting up and getting out means exploring Vancouver on a Friday afternoon. I’ll bring an umbrella.