hi!

Well, I've been mostly intending to join for a week, so we'll see how regularly I post!

Part of my hesitation is that while exercise has been an important part of my life - not just physically but also emotionally and spiritually - it was also something I did well when my time was my own and I could almost always follow through on my intention to do x that day. All of that has changed now - not just from becoming a mommy (Naomi turned 6 mos last week), but also from being sick pretty much constantly from the end of Feb to the end of May. I had to let go of all my old ways of going about exercise - what I did, how much I did, when I did it, etc. I actually gave up exercise altogether for awhile, so I could get better.

Now that I have eased my way back into exercising, it continues to be really important to me that I not make myself feel pressured to exercise, or else I'll go crazy when something comes up (sick-wise or baby-wise) that keeps me from my intended workout. And when I say go crazy I am only slightly exaggerating - the post-partum blues and overwhelm have been a struggle for me, especially about once a month or so. On those one or two or 3 days a month, I honestly have to be willing to throw out EVERYTHING that causes me stress, or else I will melt down and not be able to care for my baby. It happened twice and it's worth anything to me to not have that happen again!

I don't think I needed to explain that to you all, but I wanted to write it partly because that is part of what I want to hold myself accountable for: listening to my body's needs and my baby's needs, and giving myself a break if I don't do a workout. That's hard for me to do without thereafter giving up on fitness altogether.

So.

I've been feeling pretty much well since the beginning of June, so I have been able to be consistent with the workout I started trying to do in May: doing the 30-day shred daily, taking Sundays off. That means that today was Day 2 of Workout 3.

Yesterday SUCKED - Day 1 of Workout 3. I found it to be so hard, and I didn't feel like I could keep up. I felt discouraged afterwards, and did not want to do Day 2 today. I thought I was going to hate Wkt 3. Turns out that when I can go straight through it, rather than having to stop and start over the course of 45 minutes because of a needy baby, I like it a lot better. :) It also helped that today I let myself do the easier modification of some of the moves (for part of the push-up set, for part of some of the cardio sets), but I am sure that is not the only reason. So I'm proud of myself for following through with it today, even though I didn't want to, and letting myself do the easier version when needed. That never fails to then get me back into it and trying to challenge myself again.