Good food? Basically non existent. Exercise? Some, but not enough. As I said in the previous blog here, I spending 5 weeks on Contiki tour from LA to New York City. I have been on the go for a little over 3 weeks (25 days to be exact) and I think I have hit the wall. You know the one, when your body just goes 'enough is enough'. It can be to do with bad food, no sleep, to much alcohol, not enough down time or rest. Even just on a night out when you hit that time of the night when you are just suddenly so tired you just want to go home to bed and sleep for 12 hours straight. That wall. I have well and truely hit it.
I have been on the go since I landed in LA on the 14th of May. Early mornings, late nights, breakfasts where the options consist of sugary cereal, toast and jam, bagels, muffins, and on a few memorable mornings... donuts. Yep, you read that right... the hotels are offering us donuts for breakfast. Needless to say, I've skipped breakfast more times than I've eaten it. Which is playing havoc with my body because I always, always, always eat breakfast. Even at 4am when I have an early shift at work and the last thing I feel like doing is eating. It's just something I have to do.
I've been healthier in the last 4 or 5 days. I'm in Florida at the moment, so it's more salads etc on the menu, but dinner has been based on carbs most days. It's been alot of pizza and pasta options, and meats with rice. I generally (probably 80-90%) of the time, cut my carbs out from about 3 or 4pm. Not because I think it's a good way to lose weight, but because it's what works for my body. I'm a big believer in everything in moderation. Last night I had a chocolate ice cream, mixed with marshmallow whip and almonds in a waffle cone as I walked along the beach and I enjoyed it. I didn't feel guilty about it at all. I'm on holiday. But I am feeling more bloated, and less energetic due to the carb overloading I'm doing at the moment. I try to do what I can, but when dinner options are pizza or pasta (like they were tonight) I can't really do too much about it.
Exercise wise there are days where I do nothing but walk. I spent an entire day in Disneyland. I spent an entire day at Universal in Florida. I spent a day walking around Miami. I have done alot of walking. But, in saying that, there are days where we spend alot of time on the bus, ust driving from one place to another. Those days I feel so lethargic. But I can't make myself get up early to exercise because we're having late nights, and we need to be up, packed, and on the coach, most days, by 7.45am. Doesn't leave alot of time for anything else.
The lack of sleep is probably my biggest problem. I only need 6-7 hours of sleep a night, but most nights I'm lucky if I get 4 or 5 and it's finally starting to hit me. Alot of people sleep on the bus during the day but I am finding that I can't actually sleep. I doze for an hour at most, and then I'm awake again. That's probably the worst part of this whole trip.
I don't think I've put any weight on during this trip, but I certainly haven't lost any either. Unlike one of the guys on this trip, I'm not too concerned with what I eat, and trying to be healthy 100% of the time. If I want a margarita, I'll have one. If I want a slice of pizza I'll have one. If I can get a salad, usually I'll have that because I know that not all options will be healthy later on. I'm on holiday, I'm here to have a good time, not worry about every single thing I put in my mouth.
Sorry this post isn't very health and fitness focused. When I get back to Australia and get back into my eating and exercise routine, this blog will go back to being about health and fitness.
Heasing off the bed, need to be up in 7 hours.
D!
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Saturday, 14 May 2011
USA
I apologise profusely for the length of time this blog has sat not being updated. I really don’t have an excuse. Except lack of time really. I had a blog written just after Easter, but my internet was not in a good mood and crashed, taking my latest entry with it.
I am currently writing this from a plane on my way from Sydney to LA. That’s right; I’m flying to Los Angeles. I am embarking on my first actual holiday since I was 15. That’s the age I was when I started working. Since then, I have juggled working with, firstly school, then university. Every school break was spent working. But, didn’t I spend 3 months in the US, just a little over 2 years ago? Yes, yes, I did. But, I worked the entire time (give or take a week). So, you see, I really haven’t had a vacation in a long time. So, now I am embarking on a 5 week USA holiday, Contiki style. Should be a lot of fun.
But, back to the blog. About health and fitness. Mental, physical and emotional.
It feels strange to be writing about health and fitness when I currently have a cold. Yes, you read that right, I have a cold. Not a very severe one. Not even one where I feel like coughing up a lung. No, just one of those annoying ones where my throat hurts in cold weather, and first thing of a morning, and my nose is rather stuffed of a morning. That sort of cold. Thank god I’m heading to warmer climates.
I have a friend from work, M, who I think is the sort of friend everyone should have. She’s the type of friend to knock on your front door as she walks in. She’s the type to turn up unexpectedly. She’s the one who will phone and say ‘a movie starts in 30 minutes, do you want to go?’ She’s also the type of friend who will hit you over the head if he thinks you are being ridiculous.
Comparing myself to anyone and that if I do I’m stupid. She told me other things too, but they really aren’t fit to post here. But see what I mean about everyone needing a friend like her? Thought so. I really believe that we all need a friend to give us a reality check when we get like that.
Which leads me to what my deleted post was about: comparing ourselves to others and how that impacts on our mental health.
The next time you compare yourself to others, be it that you think you look better or worse than the person you are comparing yourself to, think about how you feel, mentally, about yourself.
I have been trying to do that over these last few weeks, and I’ve noticed some things.
Firstly: I compare myself more often than I think I do. Even something as simple as ‘she has the same shoes as me’.
Secondly: Who I compare myself to, and whether it’s in a negative or positive light, is dependent on what my mood is like. If I’m in a negative mood, I tend to compare myself in a negative way, and find very thin people to compare myself too. Things like ‘she’s so much thinner than I am,’ and the like. On the flip side of things, if I’m in a positive mood, I tend to compare myself in a much more favourable light. More like ‘She’s so thin, but I’m glad I’m not quite that small,” etc. I compare myself to make myself feel better or worse, depending on whether I’m in a good or bad mood.
Thirdly: comparing myself to people makes me more aware of what I want, in life, for my body, in looks etc. I want to be thinner (an Aus size 10), so I compare myself to people who are that size or smaller. I want to move out of home, so I compare myself to people around my age who are already out of home. I wish I hadn’t dyed my hair blonde a few years ago, which in turn made a lot of it fall out, so I am envious of people with thick hair like I used to have.
Essentially, I am comparing myself to people who have what I want.
This is not always a bad thing. It can drive you to try harder to get the things you want, give you focus when you start to stray. Just remember to use them as motivation, and not just as the end goal. It’s all about remembering that everyone is different, and that what works for someone who has what you want, or what you think you want, may not actually work for you, or in reality, may not be what you actually want or need at all.
Take the time over the next week or so, to notice who you compare yourself to, and in what light. Think about how you feel about yourself when you compare, and after you’ve done it. Then think about why you’re comparing in the first place. Are you jealous? Do you want what they have? Or is there some other reason?
I’m going to kick back and watch a movie now. Then maybe try and sleep a little before I land. Got my bottle of water, my lollies, and my ipod. I’m all set.
Enjoy your week. I know I will.
Dxo
Monday, 2 May 2011
I'm Back!!!
Apologies for the lack of posts recently. With the completely odd hours at work, the Easter break, and my sister being back at home, blogging time dwindled to nothing. Not that I'm making excuses, I'm not. But, as it seems to do, life gets away from you.
Just a quick little note to tell you all that I'm still alive. I made it to the gym last week... twice. I even took my mum with me once. And I worked out over the Easter weekend too. I overdid it with the chocolate (surprisingly, not until after Easter had passed), but I didn't, and still don't, feel guilty.
See, I can work on this mental health thing too.
Firstly, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday period, not matter what you celebrated. I hope you all had a wonderful time, and for the Aussie's, I hope you, like me, enjoyed your 5 day long weekend (even though I worked 3 of 5 days.)
Secondly, I hope that any readers in North America are all safe and well, and that, if you do live in the areas that are being battered by the tornados, that you and your families are all safe and healthy. Mother Nature is really being destructive this year isn't she?
In keeping with the mental health train of thought, everyone should have a friends like M in their lives. As I have said before, I generally don't compare myself to other women. They aren't me and I'm not them. We don't have the same live, situations, or experiences.
But, the other day M and I were talking about bodies, and how we feel about them etc, and I said that that particular day I felt fat. As you do. I was bloated, and I felt horrible and huge, and just yuck. I also happened to mention that one of the girls who is coming on the tour of the US with me is a (Aus) size 8 model, and it makes me feel just that little more self conscious about how I look.
I thought she was going to hit me. She ranted and raved about how you don't compare yourself to anyone else. EVER! She went on to list reasons and do a little more ranting and raving. Then she proceded to tell me that if she ever heard me talking like that again she was going to thump me. Hard.
I got such a giggle out of that.
Everyone needs someone like her to bring you back down to earth when your thinking gets out of hand.
Like I said, I normally don't, but every so often we can't help ourselves, and we compare ourselves to everyone we see. Whether tha person be a famous actress/songer/model on the cover of some glossy magazine, fitness people and athletes we see out exercising, or just the random person on the street. We compare ourselves to people, both big and small, and we do it depending on our moods.
Try this...
The next time you are feeling good about how you look, take a look at who you compare yourself with and why. I know I always compare myself to those larger people I see in the supermarket who are buying bags of lollies, chocolate, and chips. It makes me feel better about myself. I do it even though I know that, rationally, they could be buying those things for their child's birthday party, and that, more than likely, they aren't going to go home and stuff themselves full of junk food.
The reverse is true too. When you are feeling low about how you look, who do you compare yourself to? Id it the opposite to who you compare yourself to when you feel good? I always end up comparing myself to those stick thin people I see. Those people I see in skinny jeans with very thin legs (something I know I will never have, it's just not my body shape) or those who have clearly been doing some sort of exercise and who are buying fresh fruit and vegetables. It always makes me feel like I am less of a person.
And when I realise I'm doing this I always feel terrible. Terrible for judging people I know nothing about. Terrible for thinking that what I see in magazines is actually, 100% real. But most of all, I feel terrible about criticizing myself. Because really... that's what we're doing when we're comparing ourselves. We are picking what we feel bad about with ourselves and projecting it onto someone else, so we can bag them out and not ourselves. At least not consciously.
The next time you find youself doing, work out what you're trying to discover about yourself. When I criticise people who are running around in exercise clothes, it's usually when I feel guilty because I haven't been. When I 'hate' someone for having thin legs, it's really because I know I will never have them outside of liposuction and surgery (like I said before, it's all genetics) and will never get to wear tiny shorts.
So there you have it.
The next time you criticise someone think about why you're doing it. Think about how you feel, and if what you're criticising is actually your insecurities coming to the surface, to be directed at somone else.
Just a quick little note to tell you all that I'm still alive. I made it to the gym last week... twice. I even took my mum with me once. And I worked out over the Easter weekend too. I overdid it with the chocolate (surprisingly, not until after Easter had passed), but I didn't, and still don't, feel guilty.
See, I can work on this mental health thing too.
Firstly, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday period, not matter what you celebrated. I hope you all had a wonderful time, and for the Aussie's, I hope you, like me, enjoyed your 5 day long weekend (even though I worked 3 of 5 days.)
Secondly, I hope that any readers in North America are all safe and well, and that, if you do live in the areas that are being battered by the tornados, that you and your families are all safe and healthy. Mother Nature is really being destructive this year isn't she?
In keeping with the mental health train of thought, everyone should have a friends like M in their lives. As I have said before, I generally don't compare myself to other women. They aren't me and I'm not them. We don't have the same live, situations, or experiences.
But, the other day M and I were talking about bodies, and how we feel about them etc, and I said that that particular day I felt fat. As you do. I was bloated, and I felt horrible and huge, and just yuck. I also happened to mention that one of the girls who is coming on the tour of the US with me is a (Aus) size 8 model, and it makes me feel just that little more self conscious about how I look.
I thought she was going to hit me. She ranted and raved about how you don't compare yourself to anyone else. EVER! She went on to list reasons and do a little more ranting and raving. Then she proceded to tell me that if she ever heard me talking like that again she was going to thump me. Hard.
I got such a giggle out of that.
Everyone needs someone like her to bring you back down to earth when your thinking gets out of hand.
Like I said, I normally don't, but every so often we can't help ourselves, and we compare ourselves to everyone we see. Whether tha person be a famous actress/songer/model on the cover of some glossy magazine, fitness people and athletes we see out exercising, or just the random person on the street. We compare ourselves to people, both big and small, and we do it depending on our moods.
Try this...
The next time you are feeling good about how you look, take a look at who you compare yourself with and why. I know I always compare myself to those larger people I see in the supermarket who are buying bags of lollies, chocolate, and chips. It makes me feel better about myself. I do it even though I know that, rationally, they could be buying those things for their child's birthday party, and that, more than likely, they aren't going to go home and stuff themselves full of junk food.
The reverse is true too. When you are feeling low about how you look, who do you compare yourself to? Id it the opposite to who you compare yourself to when you feel good? I always end up comparing myself to those stick thin people I see. Those people I see in skinny jeans with very thin legs (something I know I will never have, it's just not my body shape) or those who have clearly been doing some sort of exercise and who are buying fresh fruit and vegetables. It always makes me feel like I am less of a person.
And when I realise I'm doing this I always feel terrible. Terrible for judging people I know nothing about. Terrible for thinking that what I see in magazines is actually, 100% real. But most of all, I feel terrible about criticizing myself. Because really... that's what we're doing when we're comparing ourselves. We are picking what we feel bad about with ourselves and projecting it onto someone else, so we can bag them out and not ourselves. At least not consciously.
The next time you find youself doing, work out what you're trying to discover about yourself. When I criticise people who are running around in exercise clothes, it's usually when I feel guilty because I haven't been. When I 'hate' someone for having thin legs, it's really because I know I will never have them outside of liposuction and surgery (like I said before, it's all genetics) and will never get to wear tiny shorts.
So there you have it.
The next time you criticise someone think about why you're doing it. Think about how you feel, and if what you're criticising is actually your insecurities coming to the surface, to be directed at somone else.
Sunday, 17 April 2011
The Power of Thoughts and Words
It amazes me how negative we, as a society, are to, not only the people around us, but the world in general.
Working in a supermarket (hopefully not for much longer), I'm regularly bombarded with the negativity society breeds. Everything from the headlines on the glossy magazines touting break ups and cheating, to how to lose weight, and feel good about yourself; parents talking down to, or at their children instead of just to them; to the bitching that occurs between collegues about other collegues (which is normal to some extent) or just general bitching.
Even in the news it's always one person blaming another for something. Particularly politics. One party says something about the other, the second one retaliates. Some days it's like watching a tennis match, heads twisting back and forth as insults are slung from one side of the fence to the other.
Looking at all this, is it really any wonder that young people in particular are so depressed. One week you are told something is good, the next it's bad for you. One week your favourite celebrity is too skinny, the next they've put on weight and are starting a diet.
There's no middle ground. It seems that we, as a society, aren't happy unless we are tearing someone down. There must be something to pick at. Is it any wonder people have low self esteem, eating disorders, exercise disorders etc? No-one seems to be happy to be 'just average' anymore. What's wrong with being the average size? Or not having an opinion one way or the other on a topic you're not interested in? (The only occassion this bothers me is when I have a conversation with someone who seems to have no opinon in anything!)
Thanks to having stumbled upon these wonderful blogs I am really taking a good look at myself, and what I say and think. Not only do we need to be careful of what we say and how we say it to other people, (I am regularly told to lose the lecturing tone of voice I seem to naturally adopt when I'm talking about something I'm passionate about. I'm working on it), it's just as important to take a look at what we say, and even more importantly (in my opinion), those thoughts that don't get spoken aloud, about ourselves.
Think about this for a minute...
How many thoughts a day do you have about yourself that are negative in nature? 3 or 4? Maybe 10 or 11? I'm not just talking big thoughts that are easy to catch like "I'm fat and ugly. Nothing's going to look good on me!" (I have had this internal thought in many a dressing room with unflattering lights and mirrors). How about simple things like "I can't", Or "It wont work"? How many times have you internalised a conversation about yourself/other people after someone's said something nasty to you or criticised you?
It's these thoughts, things that seem small and inconsequential that do the most damage. Simple remarks you make to yourself about you and those around you that can affect you more than you think.
How many times have you had something 'bad' happen in the morning and it ruins the rest of the day for you? Maybe you spilt your coffee over your morning newspaper. Maybe you slept in and are late for work. Maybe you got stuck in traffic. Do you think in these situations "the rest of the day is going to be just as bad now"? And when you think something like this, does this actually occur?
I know it does for me. Days I wake up and something goes wrong, if I think "the day's just going to be like this now isn't it?" the rest of the day follows the morning's patterns. If I can laugh it off, find something good out of it (even if it's just the excuse to sing along with the music in my car when I'm stuck in traffic), I find that the rest of the day isn't as bad as it could have been.
It's similar to going into new situations and expecting disaster and then getting it.
The way you think, tends to be thrown back at you in actions. If you are sad/unhappy/angry etc, the world will work with that mood and keep you there. If you're happy, same thing.
Of course, bad things happen to people who are eternally optimistic. Good things happen to perpetually angry/sad people.
The difference..?
The way they look at the world. If you are optimistic/happy etc, and you get hit with a hurdle of some sort, you don't look at it like it's the end of the world. You don't let it ruin your day/month/year. You don't dwell on it. You tackle the problem, and move on with your day/week/month etc.
Example:
A few years ago my Grandmother (who is now 70) had a hip replacement. She is one of the mentally strongest, stubborn, people I know. The week before she had her hip done, another lady had her's done. She was telling my Grandmother about all the things she struggled to do, and how hard a time she was having of it.
Now, my Grandmother lives alone. She has done for many, many years (with the exception of her Grandkids coming to visit, and sometimes stay). She knew she couldn't afford to lay around feeling sorry for herself for weeks on end, while she waited to fully heal.
She only ever used a walking stick type thing. No crutches or anything of the type for her. When she found she couldn't bend over to pick things up off the ground, she bought herself a grabby thing that could do it for her. She found ways to do her washing and get it from the washing machine to the clothes line in her backyard, hang it out, and get it in again. She found ways to do anything she had to do.
She was told she was not to drive for 6 weeks after her surgery. 4 weeks after the op, she drove herself to my aunt's place so my aunt could drive her to the doctors for her check up. Just so her doctor didn't know she was driving so soon after the op.
After 4 weeks she was walking about 5km (3 miles) everyday or there abouts. She wasn't actually supposed to, but she felt well enough to do it, and she did it at a pace that suited her. She didn't push herself, but she didn't lay about feeling sorry for herself either.
The other woman? The one who lamented about how hard it was? Was still finding it hard to walk after 4 weeks.
Then, last year, she was diagnosed with Gall stones, and she had to have her gall bladder removed. She woke up in incredible pain in October. She was told not to eat fatty things, it would just irritate the stones, and put her back in a world of pain. She got her gall bladder removed in March.
In 5 months she rarely ate anything with fat in it. She was very sensible in what she ate. Not thinking about it. No but I really like ice cream/chocolate etc for her. No I'll have it once a week. Just I can't eat it now so I wont. She said that she would rather have 3 children naturally, one after the other, than go through that again. She also lost 11kg (or there abouts) as a bonus. She can now wear her engagement and eternity rings again.
My point..?
If you put your mind to it, you can do or be anything. It all comes back to your thoughts, and thought patterns. If you put out negative energy into the world, you'll get negative energy back. If you're a happy, bright person, you'll get good things come to you. I'm nat saying that good, happy, vibrant people don't have negative things happen in their lives, we all have things we have to face and overcome, but they deal with them in a way that is totally different to those who are negative. If you're someone who has no direction, no idea of where they want to go and what they want to do, you tend to flounder and just keep doing the same thing over and over again.
After reading through those wonderful blogs I mentioned earlier, I'm vowing to take action on my thinking.
I vow to be careful with what I think/say. I vow to stop any negative thoughts in their tracks, and any I miss I vow to amend with something positive.
Look at this post of inspiring words. They might just help get you started on your journey to bringing more positivity into your life.
What mantras do you live by?
Working in a supermarket (hopefully not for much longer), I'm regularly bombarded with the negativity society breeds. Everything from the headlines on the glossy magazines touting break ups and cheating, to how to lose weight, and feel good about yourself; parents talking down to, or at their children instead of just to them; to the bitching that occurs between collegues about other collegues (which is normal to some extent) or just general bitching.
Even in the news it's always one person blaming another for something. Particularly politics. One party says something about the other, the second one retaliates. Some days it's like watching a tennis match, heads twisting back and forth as insults are slung from one side of the fence to the other.
Looking at all this, is it really any wonder that young people in particular are so depressed. One week you are told something is good, the next it's bad for you. One week your favourite celebrity is too skinny, the next they've put on weight and are starting a diet.
There's no middle ground. It seems that we, as a society, aren't happy unless we are tearing someone down. There must be something to pick at. Is it any wonder people have low self esteem, eating disorders, exercise disorders etc? No-one seems to be happy to be 'just average' anymore. What's wrong with being the average size? Or not having an opinion one way or the other on a topic you're not interested in? (The only occassion this bothers me is when I have a conversation with someone who seems to have no opinon in anything!)
Thanks to having stumbled upon these wonderful blogs I am really taking a good look at myself, and what I say and think. Not only do we need to be careful of what we say and how we say it to other people, (I am regularly told to lose the lecturing tone of voice I seem to naturally adopt when I'm talking about something I'm passionate about. I'm working on it), it's just as important to take a look at what we say, and even more importantly (in my opinion), those thoughts that don't get spoken aloud, about ourselves.
Think about this for a minute...
How many thoughts a day do you have about yourself that are negative in nature? 3 or 4? Maybe 10 or 11? I'm not just talking big thoughts that are easy to catch like "I'm fat and ugly. Nothing's going to look good on me!" (I have had this internal thought in many a dressing room with unflattering lights and mirrors). How about simple things like "I can't", Or "It wont work"? How many times have you internalised a conversation about yourself/other people after someone's said something nasty to you or criticised you?
It's these thoughts, things that seem small and inconsequential that do the most damage. Simple remarks you make to yourself about you and those around you that can affect you more than you think.
How many times have you had something 'bad' happen in the morning and it ruins the rest of the day for you? Maybe you spilt your coffee over your morning newspaper. Maybe you slept in and are late for work. Maybe you got stuck in traffic. Do you think in these situations "the rest of the day is going to be just as bad now"? And when you think something like this, does this actually occur?
I know it does for me. Days I wake up and something goes wrong, if I think "the day's just going to be like this now isn't it?" the rest of the day follows the morning's patterns. If I can laugh it off, find something good out of it (even if it's just the excuse to sing along with the music in my car when I'm stuck in traffic), I find that the rest of the day isn't as bad as it could have been.
It's similar to going into new situations and expecting disaster and then getting it.
The way you think, tends to be thrown back at you in actions. If you are sad/unhappy/angry etc, the world will work with that mood and keep you there. If you're happy, same thing.
Of course, bad things happen to people who are eternally optimistic. Good things happen to perpetually angry/sad people.
The difference..?
The way they look at the world. If you are optimistic/happy etc, and you get hit with a hurdle of some sort, you don't look at it like it's the end of the world. You don't let it ruin your day/month/year. You don't dwell on it. You tackle the problem, and move on with your day/week/month etc.
Example:
A few years ago my Grandmother (who is now 70) had a hip replacement. She is one of the mentally strongest, stubborn, people I know. The week before she had her hip done, another lady had her's done. She was telling my Grandmother about all the things she struggled to do, and how hard a time she was having of it.
Now, my Grandmother lives alone. She has done for many, many years (with the exception of her Grandkids coming to visit, and sometimes stay). She knew she couldn't afford to lay around feeling sorry for herself for weeks on end, while she waited to fully heal.
She only ever used a walking stick type thing. No crutches or anything of the type for her. When she found she couldn't bend over to pick things up off the ground, she bought herself a grabby thing that could do it for her. She found ways to do her washing and get it from the washing machine to the clothes line in her backyard, hang it out, and get it in again. She found ways to do anything she had to do.
She was told she was not to drive for 6 weeks after her surgery. 4 weeks after the op, she drove herself to my aunt's place so my aunt could drive her to the doctors for her check up. Just so her doctor didn't know she was driving so soon after the op.
After 4 weeks she was walking about 5km (3 miles) everyday or there abouts. She wasn't actually supposed to, but she felt well enough to do it, and she did it at a pace that suited her. She didn't push herself, but she didn't lay about feeling sorry for herself either.
The other woman? The one who lamented about how hard it was? Was still finding it hard to walk after 4 weeks.
Then, last year, she was diagnosed with Gall stones, and she had to have her gall bladder removed. She woke up in incredible pain in October. She was told not to eat fatty things, it would just irritate the stones, and put her back in a world of pain. She got her gall bladder removed in March.
In 5 months she rarely ate anything with fat in it. She was very sensible in what she ate. Not thinking about it. No but I really like ice cream/chocolate etc for her. No I'll have it once a week. Just I can't eat it now so I wont. She said that she would rather have 3 children naturally, one after the other, than go through that again. She also lost 11kg (or there abouts) as a bonus. She can now wear her engagement and eternity rings again.
My point..?
If you put your mind to it, you can do or be anything. It all comes back to your thoughts, and thought patterns. If you put out negative energy into the world, you'll get negative energy back. If you're a happy, bright person, you'll get good things come to you. I'm nat saying that good, happy, vibrant people don't have negative things happen in their lives, we all have things we have to face and overcome, but they deal with them in a way that is totally different to those who are negative. If you're someone who has no direction, no idea of where they want to go and what they want to do, you tend to flounder and just keep doing the same thing over and over again.
After reading through those wonderful blogs I mentioned earlier, I'm vowing to take action on my thinking.
I vow to be careful with what I think/say. I vow to stop any negative thoughts in their tracks, and any I miss I vow to amend with something positive.
Look at this post of inspiring words. They might just help get you started on your journey to bringing more positivity into your life.
What mantras do you live by?
Friday, 8 April 2011
Sickness..?
Not the post I was planning on posting today. While I was in the shower I had this whole blog planned on the Biggest Loser. But, the best laid plans. I'll discuss in another post.
Right now, my little sister (I say little but she's 21), is home from uni for the holidays, and 3 weeks of prac teaching. It'll be amazing if we don't kill each other. We get on, don't think we don't, but at the same time we fight like cats and dogs alot of the time too. One wrong word can set H off into a bad mood and a bad temper. To make this worse, this year seems to be her beligerent and hostile phase, (something I don't think I went through to the extent she is), and seems to have hit her rebelious phase a little late. She's in her 4th year of uni but this year seems to be the year she's lost her head. Partying 4-5 times a week, not knowing what time she's getting home, the girls she lives with being on an alcohol ban and her flat being inspected everyday because another of her flatmates complained about it not being cleaned (she lives on campus), laying in the middle of the road, drunk, at 4am! It's not like her. Now I know everyone is entitled to party and have a good time, but mum and dad are paying for her to be at uni, so they're not impressed.
Anyway... the reason for this entry as opposed to me professing my love for all things Biggest Loser...
She's sick. Right now I can hear her, down the hall, coughing like she's trying to expel her lungs. This happens. Everyone gets sick. But lately, I've been running into more and more people who are sick all the time. H is sick at least 3-4 times a year (although she does get hayfever so that has something to do with it in the warmer months.) Another girl I work with has been sick about 5 times this year and it's only the 4th month of the year. Everything from whooping cough to a cold. You name it, she's probably had it.
This lead to a discussion on sickness the last time I worked with her (what else do you have to talk about at 5am?) She was talking about how it was only her 4th Friday shift with the department because she'd been sick so many other times. Which led me to say (stupidly in hindsight) that I don't get sick.
Ever!
But it's true. I don't. The last time I was really sick was in 2005. My first year of uni. My boyfried at the time, J, and I were home for the Easter holidays. We went to a party for a school friend of mine's birthday. I felt fine when we got there. By the end of the night I was sick. Physically. I thought maybe I had food poisoning, and settled in for a night of cramping and generally feeling horrible (I've never actually had food poisoning so I have no idea what it's like). It wasn't feed poisoning. By the next morning I was still being physically sick but there were also... other... things. Anyway. It took me about 3-4 days to get over it. 3-4 days of me not being able to eat anything besides ice blocks and vegemite on toast (the best thing for an upset stomach). 3-4 days of reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, and sleeping. Then J caught it and cried like a baby until we took him to the on call doctor to get him a shot to make him stop throwing up. Sook.
Anyway...
Before that I think I was about 7 and was sent home from a Brownie camp in Sydney because of how sick I was. Mum and dad had to come and get me and I didn't want to go home. I wanted to stick it out. But in the end the adults won out (I managed 2 days before I gave in and let them call my parents). It wa a good thing they did. All I did was lay on the couch in a pile of blankets and watch cartoons, my trusty toast and vegemite, and ice blocks close at hand. Then the other girls caught it. Oops.
Point is... I don't get sick. Sure I get the occassional cold, but other than that I don't get sick. Even with a cold it's some vitamin c, garlic and horseradish tablets, and I keep going.
But all this running into sick people has made think. Why do some people get sick more than others? What is it about some people that make them susceptible to illness than others? (I should probably point out that I'm not allergic to anything either. H calls me an anomaly because she's allergic to bees and a penicilin equivalent. I've also never had the chicken pox even though it went through my extended family I was close to at the time, my primary school, and then 3 times through the college I was living at while at uni.)
I have always thought (and science seems to be catching on) that all this germ killing we do is actually harming us. If children are kept in a bubble, away from anything that might make then sick, how is there immune system supposed to know what it's supposed to fight and what is harmless? It's one of the reasons I think allergies are on the rise too. It's why these antibiotic superbugs are in existance. It's why, I think, so many people (young people in particular) are getting sick.
Now, I'm not saying don't vaccinate. I actually think that you are stupid if you don't vaccinate your kids. If you can protect them from something like the chicken pox from killing them, why wouldn't you. But it's things like wiping everything down with an antibacterial wipe that I can't understand. We didn't and we survived.
I remember, growing up, doing things like playing in the dirt and the mud. Playing touch (and sometimes tackle) football with my cousins and friends. Swimming in rivers and dams and lakes as well as the pool. Playing with the dogs, then running my hands under water and saying they were clean then going to have something to eat. Climbing (and falling out of) trees, and riding my bike. Learning to rollerskate (and later ice skate).
As kids, on the weekends and holidays, we had breakfast and were then sent out to play. We would come back to someone's house and have lunch. Then go play and then go home for dinner. And it was fun. Getting dirty and having fun was what being a kid was all about. It wasn't about computer games or the TV. Sure, H and I had an Atari when we were little, then later, a computer. But we never played it. Only on occassions we couldn't go outside. And even then, only sparingly. We would draw, colour, read books, watch movies on days were were stuck outside. We never wanted the latest PlayStation, or XBox. We had friends who had them, and we would use theirs, then come home. Even now, the only gaming console we own, as a family, is a Wii. And I still can't use it (unless it's the WiiFit or something similar) for too long without getting bored. It's the way we were raised.
Back to the sickness...
I believe, in my non scientific taught brain, that this is the reason kids are getting sick more often, and with superbugs. Is it any surprise that superbugs thrive in streile environmnents. It's why staph was only found in hospitals. Bugs, viruses etc, just like us, adapt to their surroundings. If you keep throwing antibiotics at a bug, it's going ot get stronger and more resistent to the drugs we use to beat it.
It is, I think, common sense.
I believe we need to go back to not worrying too much about germs and bugs. Obviously take care of things like cuts and other wounds. Cover then during the day, let them air out at night. Cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough. If you've got something contagous, or a cold etc, stay at home for a few days and get better. Have a shower everyday and clean yourself, wash your clothes, clean your house. But don't wipe up every spill with antibacterial wipes. Don't worry too much about using anything other than soap and water. It's actually the best cleaning method there is.
If you let yourself, and your kids, be exposed to these sorts of, relatively harmess, germs, they will acutally get sick less. If you stop pouring medication down their, and your, throats everytime you get the sniffles, you and they, will be sick less often. Your immune system needs something to fight against to get stronger. It's the use it or lose it scenario. If you don't use your immune system, when something big comes along, it won't know what to do.
A lot of this comes down to exercise and nutrition too. If you look at healthy people, people who don't get sick, they tend to exercise and eat well. Now you don't have to be perfect, but even just 5 serves of veggies, 2 serves of fruit every day will go a long way to helping you feel better, even if you don't get sick. Some exercise, even walking for 30 minutes a day, will get your heart pumping and lift your mood. It will make you feel better.
And this eating better and exercising (especially outdoors) will expose you to new things, prompting your body to assess it and decide if it's harmless or harmful. It will make your immune system work and do the job it's supposed to do.
So my view on this*:
I hope this has led you to think about your own life and what you do, or don't do within it. It did for me.
D xo
Right now, my little sister (I say little but she's 21), is home from uni for the holidays, and 3 weeks of prac teaching. It'll be amazing if we don't kill each other. We get on, don't think we don't, but at the same time we fight like cats and dogs alot of the time too. One wrong word can set H off into a bad mood and a bad temper. To make this worse, this year seems to be her beligerent and hostile phase, (something I don't think I went through to the extent she is), and seems to have hit her rebelious phase a little late. She's in her 4th year of uni but this year seems to be the year she's lost her head. Partying 4-5 times a week, not knowing what time she's getting home, the girls she lives with being on an alcohol ban and her flat being inspected everyday because another of her flatmates complained about it not being cleaned (she lives on campus), laying in the middle of the road, drunk, at 4am! It's not like her. Now I know everyone is entitled to party and have a good time, but mum and dad are paying for her to be at uni, so they're not impressed.
Anyway... the reason for this entry as opposed to me professing my love for all things Biggest Loser...
She's sick. Right now I can hear her, down the hall, coughing like she's trying to expel her lungs. This happens. Everyone gets sick. But lately, I've been running into more and more people who are sick all the time. H is sick at least 3-4 times a year (although she does get hayfever so that has something to do with it in the warmer months.) Another girl I work with has been sick about 5 times this year and it's only the 4th month of the year. Everything from whooping cough to a cold. You name it, she's probably had it.
This lead to a discussion on sickness the last time I worked with her (what else do you have to talk about at 5am?) She was talking about how it was only her 4th Friday shift with the department because she'd been sick so many other times. Which led me to say (stupidly in hindsight) that I don't get sick.
Ever!
But it's true. I don't. The last time I was really sick was in 2005. My first year of uni. My boyfried at the time, J, and I were home for the Easter holidays. We went to a party for a school friend of mine's birthday. I felt fine when we got there. By the end of the night I was sick. Physically. I thought maybe I had food poisoning, and settled in for a night of cramping and generally feeling horrible (I've never actually had food poisoning so I have no idea what it's like). It wasn't feed poisoning. By the next morning I was still being physically sick but there were also... other... things. Anyway. It took me about 3-4 days to get over it. 3-4 days of me not being able to eat anything besides ice blocks and vegemite on toast (the best thing for an upset stomach). 3-4 days of reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, and sleeping. Then J caught it and cried like a baby until we took him to the on call doctor to get him a shot to make him stop throwing up. Sook.
Anyway...
Before that I think I was about 7 and was sent home from a Brownie camp in Sydney because of how sick I was. Mum and dad had to come and get me and I didn't want to go home. I wanted to stick it out. But in the end the adults won out (I managed 2 days before I gave in and let them call my parents). It wa a good thing they did. All I did was lay on the couch in a pile of blankets and watch cartoons, my trusty toast and vegemite, and ice blocks close at hand. Then the other girls caught it. Oops.
Point is... I don't get sick. Sure I get the occassional cold, but other than that I don't get sick. Even with a cold it's some vitamin c, garlic and horseradish tablets, and I keep going.
But all this running into sick people has made think. Why do some people get sick more than others? What is it about some people that make them susceptible to illness than others? (I should probably point out that I'm not allergic to anything either. H calls me an anomaly because she's allergic to bees and a penicilin equivalent. I've also never had the chicken pox even though it went through my extended family I was close to at the time, my primary school, and then 3 times through the college I was living at while at uni.)
I have always thought (and science seems to be catching on) that all this germ killing we do is actually harming us. If children are kept in a bubble, away from anything that might make then sick, how is there immune system supposed to know what it's supposed to fight and what is harmless? It's one of the reasons I think allergies are on the rise too. It's why these antibiotic superbugs are in existance. It's why, I think, so many people (young people in particular) are getting sick.
Now, I'm not saying don't vaccinate. I actually think that you are stupid if you don't vaccinate your kids. If you can protect them from something like the chicken pox from killing them, why wouldn't you. But it's things like wiping everything down with an antibacterial wipe that I can't understand. We didn't and we survived.
I remember, growing up, doing things like playing in the dirt and the mud. Playing touch (and sometimes tackle) football with my cousins and friends. Swimming in rivers and dams and lakes as well as the pool. Playing with the dogs, then running my hands under water and saying they were clean then going to have something to eat. Climbing (and falling out of) trees, and riding my bike. Learning to rollerskate (and later ice skate).
As kids, on the weekends and holidays, we had breakfast and were then sent out to play. We would come back to someone's house and have lunch. Then go play and then go home for dinner. And it was fun. Getting dirty and having fun was what being a kid was all about. It wasn't about computer games or the TV. Sure, H and I had an Atari when we were little, then later, a computer. But we never played it. Only on occassions we couldn't go outside. And even then, only sparingly. We would draw, colour, read books, watch movies on days were were stuck outside. We never wanted the latest PlayStation, or XBox. We had friends who had them, and we would use theirs, then come home. Even now, the only gaming console we own, as a family, is a Wii. And I still can't use it (unless it's the WiiFit or something similar) for too long without getting bored. It's the way we were raised.
Back to the sickness...
I believe, in my non scientific taught brain, that this is the reason kids are getting sick more often, and with superbugs. Is it any surprise that superbugs thrive in streile environmnents. It's why staph was only found in hospitals. Bugs, viruses etc, just like us, adapt to their surroundings. If you keep throwing antibiotics at a bug, it's going ot get stronger and more resistent to the drugs we use to beat it.
It is, I think, common sense.
I believe we need to go back to not worrying too much about germs and bugs. Obviously take care of things like cuts and other wounds. Cover then during the day, let them air out at night. Cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough. If you've got something contagous, or a cold etc, stay at home for a few days and get better. Have a shower everyday and clean yourself, wash your clothes, clean your house. But don't wipe up every spill with antibacterial wipes. Don't worry too much about using anything other than soap and water. It's actually the best cleaning method there is.
If you let yourself, and your kids, be exposed to these sorts of, relatively harmess, germs, they will acutally get sick less. If you stop pouring medication down their, and your, throats everytime you get the sniffles, you and they, will be sick less often. Your immune system needs something to fight against to get stronger. It's the use it or lose it scenario. If you don't use your immune system, when something big comes along, it won't know what to do.
A lot of this comes down to exercise and nutrition too. If you look at healthy people, people who don't get sick, they tend to exercise and eat well. Now you don't have to be perfect, but even just 5 serves of veggies, 2 serves of fruit every day will go a long way to helping you feel better, even if you don't get sick. Some exercise, even walking for 30 minutes a day, will get your heart pumping and lift your mood. It will make you feel better.
And this eating better and exercising (especially outdoors) will expose you to new things, prompting your body to assess it and decide if it's harmless or harmful. It will make your immune system work and do the job it's supposed to do.
So my view on this*:
- Don't worry about germs so much. Keep things clean, but not evey spill has to be wiped over with an antibacterial. Leave these for the medicine cabinet.
- Don't get medication unless you really need it. There's nothing you can do for a common cold, just rest and take care of yourself. Doping yourself up on anything other than asprin is just wasting your money.
- Eat well. Make sure you get a variety of fresh foods in your diet everyday.
- Exercise. Outdoors if you can but a gym is just as good. Even just 30 minutes a day. Get your heart pumping and your blood moving.
I hope this has led you to think about your own life and what you do, or don't do within it. It did for me.
D xo
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