Yesterday was a 4-star day: I maintained the integrity of my calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I met my daily water goal, and I stayed well connected with exceptional support.
Just when it appeared mom was getting well and shaking this UTI, it seems to have ramped up. The past two nights have been very challenging for her. She's getting good care and the nursing staff is certainly treating it as aggressively as they can at this point. We'll see how this latest round of antibiotics affect her. I've been spending a little more time out there with her. She's also had a few family visitors today too, so that helps her and me.
When circumstances become more challenging, it requires me to amp up my awareness and mindfulness for what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. When stress and emotion go high, I must go tight on the fundamental elements of this daily practice. When things are smooth and steady, these are the things that, with practice and repetition, just become what we do. When it's not so smooth and steady, that's when the patterns can quickly develop resistance and require extra defensive measures. I must "check myself" often and make certain I'm staying between acceptable lines.
I like analogies. I use 'em a lot.
I look at my daily plan like it's a fortress. The boundaries of my plan are the walls. My job each day is to defend the fort. I have help--I'll call them allies, whose support helps keep my defense strong.
A football team can have the best offense in the history of the game, but if the defense isn't strong, stress is created on offense and games are lost. The fundamental elements of my plan--the food, the physical activity, the logging, tracking--all of these are part of the offense.
The defense is where I find my personal accountability and support measures, my daily positive visualizations, spiritual time, and making myself available in support of others. I've put together powerful offenses in the past that were completely void of a good defense. And those times didn't work well.
But life happens, right? And I'm historically an emotional/stress eater. One thing I had to accept: Life wasn't going to stop long enough for me to "get it together." I had to find a way to maintain a good measure of consistency come what may. Because life keeps coming. And my time keeps going. So the time is now, regardless of circumstance.
Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Practice, peace, and calm,
Sean
If you're interested in connecting via social media:
I accept friend requests on MyFitnessPal. My daily food logging diary is set to public.
MFP Username: SeanAAnderson
My Twitter: SeanAAnderson
Facebook: www.facebook.com/seananderson505
Instagram: SeanAAnderson
Also--I'd love you to subscribe to my podcast Transformation Planet! You can find it in Apple Podcasts, in the Google Play store for Android, and listed wherever you find your favorite podcasts! If you haven't listened before, you'll find 20 episodes waiting for you!
Questions or comments? Send an email! transformation.road@gmail.com
My prayers are with you and your family.
ReplyDelete--Chris