14 Challenges in 2014

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2014 Challenge, Barre, Biking, Exercise, Mental Health, Pilates, Plank, Planks, Race, Racing, Relationships, Running, Self Care, Walking, Wellness

I’ll be back tomorrow with another post about my trip to Ecuador… 

Last year I set 13 challenges for myself for the year, and I loved having these to push myself throughout the year. Why challenges? I want to give myself the freedom and room to take new paths for myself that may arise throughout the year. I like the freedom as well as determination that a challenge gives. So, because I loved it so much last year, I am setting 14 challenges for myself this upcoming year:

1. I challenge myself to run 200 miles. Again, I shoot very low, knowing that I get injured easily. I would love nothing more than to have 500+ mile years, but I know this isn’t practical for myself.
2. I challenge myself to walk 275 miles.  I enjoy walking, and used to walk much more than I do now. 275 might still be high, depending on how my fitness plays out throughout the year. I refuse to give up what I WANT to do just to meet a certain number.
3. I challenge myself to bike 900 miles. This would solidly mean the highest biking mileage I’ve ever done in a year before, so we’ll see if I can make this happen. I would be solidly happy with 700+ miles for the year.
4. I challenge myself to 75 hours of pilates. This is pretty much hardly over an hour a week, which I think is reasonable. I’ve never kept track of how many hours I’ve done pilates in a year before, so we’ll see how this one goes! I love pilates though and think that it’s incredibly beneficial for life. (I’m counting reformer, mat, and barre pilates here)
5. I challenge myself to 250 minutes of planks. I chose 250 minutes of planks last year, and I felt like that number was pretty reasonable. Instead of trying to go up (because…why?) I decided to keep it at a number I was happy with for the year.
6. I challenge myself to run 10 races for the year. Like 2013, these races can be in person or virtual, but I’d like at least 5 of them to be in person!
7. I challenge myself to read at least 14 books. Just like the books I read in 2013, I want them to be a mix of fun, health, and educational.
8. I challenge myself to go through all the clothes that I own. I almost feel like I’m cheating with this one since it was on my list from last year, but making it a challenge somehow made it more fun (and a little easier to part with clothes). I want to continue to make space in my closet for the clothes that I really wear.
9. I challenge myself to continue to be present. I talked about the benefits of being present last January, and I felt like it was really healthy for me throughout the year. This one is a huge priority throughout the year for me.
10. I challenge myself to continue to hunt for provisions and blessings (continuing to develop gratitude in my life). I will write down at least once a week what I am thankful for (I’ve officially started a specific gratitude journal for the year), and will continue to hunt throughout the week for the things I’ve been provided. I really feel like this makes a huge difference in mental health.
11. I challenge myself to read the entire Bible this year. I’m pretty sure that I’ve read it all in bits and pieces, but I’ve never read the entire thing in a condensed amount of time. This one will be an average of maybe 15ish minutes every day, although obviously there will be somedays that I’ll have to play catch up for other days that I’ve missed. This one has already been interesting so far.
12. I challenge myself to publish an article this year. 
13. I challenge myself to put more time and energy into friendships and relationships. This is something that I have really done in the past 3 months, and I want to continue to make this a priority in my life. This involves both keeping up with a few close friends from my past, current friendships, and maybe making a few new friends as well!
14. I challenge myself to be brave. Brave (or courage) is my word for the year, and while this probably deserves an entire post of it’s own, I thought I’d throw it out there anyways. I want to continue to push myself to be brave in any area of my life…

So, that’s it-my 14 challenges for the year. Obviously, like I mentioned on my final update for my 13 challenges, I am giving myself the freedom and space to take the year however it comes. I have no idea what the upcoming year holds, so I don’t want to make my goals to rigid. So- here’s to a great 2014 for my own personal growth, and it’ll be interesting to see how it all turns out!

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s a challenge for yourself for the upcoming year (or month or week- you can choose!)?

Cultivating Gratitude {The Gratitude Journal}

Tags

Health, Thankful, Wellness

Thanksgiving is over, and now is the time that we tend to start getting overwhelmed with all of the stress and excitement of the Christmas season. After focusing on what we’re thankful for, it tends to get pushed aside as we tackle the shopping, to do lists, and parties. Not this year! This year I’m choosing to continue this practice of gratitude.

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I’m choosing to incorporate gratitude daily into my life. The fact is that, no matter what unfortunate and painful events we have going on in life, there are SO many things to be thankful for in our life as well. Gratitude isn’t meant to negate the bad things that are going on (it’s important that we own our entire range of emotions and experiences in order to be a happy person and we don’t need to be fake about our reality), but gratitude balances our negative experiences. Gratitude allows us to recognize the blessings and the little things in our life, even though we have pain and struggles as well. It’s about keeping the good and the bad balanced so we stay healthy.

In that vain, I’m planning to start a gratitude journal. It’s something I’ve recommended to clients, and for those who have done it, it has been very helpful. Gratitude is like a muscle that we have to work out over and over so it becomes stronger. I’ve been focusing on building the muscle throughout the year, and have loved the results so far.

Once you’ve picked out a notebook or a journal specifically for gratitude, pick a number for the things you will list each day (i.e. “I will write 3 things I’m thankful for every day). Try not to repeat items.

Start with the things that are simple. “I’m thankful for fresh water, food, the grocery store, heat,etc…” Think about the things that you enjoy doing, and what you’re thankful for within those things “I’m thankful for feet to carry me through the miles that I run, I’m thankful for my bike pump that allows my tires to be filled, etc…”. Think about the people, situations, and experiences in life, and write about those as well.

The more we build up the muscle of gratitude and allows ourselves to sit in the experience of gratitude each day, the stronger we get and the easier it is to tap into those things we are thankful for throughout the day. You’ll be doing something that is healthy for yourself mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

So who is with me? Are you ready to commit to a regular practice of cultivating gratitude in your life? 

 

Giving Myself A Gift

Tags

Health, Wellness

My co-workers and I have recently been talking about taking the time each day to give ourselves a gift. These aren’t big gifts, but they’re little things that we can do for ourselves as we give so much of ourselves to others through our job.

In the last 5 days I’ve been in 5 different states. I’ve spent somewhere around 16 hours driving, flew 3 of the last 5 days, went to my brother’s pilot graduation, and gave a talk yesterday. It’s been a crazy last 5 days, and I’ve gotten very little sleep. I’ve been busy, and work the next 3 days is going to be long and busy as I try to squeeze in a few extra clients.

SO, because of that, I’m giving myself a gift. I’m going to give myself the gift of time. I’m bowing out of something that I had planned to do tonight through work, and that was going to take up my entire evening (until around 11 pm). I feel bad because it’s something I was looking forward to. However, I NEED the time, so I’m giving it to myself.

Tonight, I’m going to unpack, cook some real food, and go to bed at a reasonable time. I can’t wait.

As we give to others, we also need to give back to ourselves.

What little gift can you give yourself today?

What I’ve Learned Through 2 Years of Blogging

Tags

Barre, Exercise, Mental Health, Pilates, Racing, Running, Thankful, Wellness

2 years ago today I sat down at my computer and wrote my first post on this blog! I didn’t know what I really wanted for this blog, but I had just started running and knew that I wanted a place to track my growth. Through these 2 years, I’ve learned so much about fitness and exercise, and I’ve had so many extra surprises as well! So, I thought I would summarize a few of those lessons and surprises I’ve had over these last 2 years:

• Comparison can ruin progress! It’s so easy to compare yourself to other bloggers, and it’s easy to feel really down when we do so. Blogging has taught me to learn from others but not compare myself to others. My body has different needs than other bodies do, and my progress will be different. Focusing on myself allows me to use the energy I have to grow and learn instead of beating myself up.
• Never Say Never. When I started this blog I hadn’t been on a bike in nearly 10 years, and I regularly made the statement that I had no intention of every biking again. I had no desire. BUT… one day I won a free entry into a triathlon and had to get back on the bike again. I grew to love biking, and find great joy in my weekly rides.
• Cross Train for a Balanced Body. Doing the same thing over and over and over isn’t so healthy for us, and switching it up provides a full body workout each week! For example, only running and biking shortens certain connections, so doing pilates helps to lengthen and balance me out. Seeking exercises to keep me balanced has been important!
• Be Open To The Unexpected. When this past summer started, I had no intention of doing any sort of pilates training. Then one day, my mom received an email about a pilates barre instructor certification, and I instantly knew that I needed to do it! I had a fantastic time at the training, and just recently started teaching pilates two mornings a week.
• That voice in our head is a liar. I originally posted about this the day before my first half marathon. We each have this little voice in our head that tells us that we can’t do things. We get to decide what we do with that voice of doubt. My journey in exercise has been about squashing that voice over and over and over again.
• The post race blues are a very real thing. Before I ran my first half marathon I sort of thought that people were making it up. NOPE! It’s definitely a real thing, and I wrote an entire post about surviving the post race blues here.
• If you need motivation, go online! If I have a workout planned that I need to get in but I don’t really want to do it, all I have to do is head to twitter and I’ll quickly get a number of people encouraging me and pumping me up to exercise! Sometimes that’s just what is needed.
• Being open doesn’t mean sharing every little detail. My job as a counselor means that the amount of details about my life has to be limited on here. That’s why pictures of my family and close friends aren’t included, nor are my places of work. Using wisdom in what we post is critical for each of us, as what we post could impact jobs or other goals in the future.

But mostly, today, i want to say thank you to all of you who read here. My hope is to present a rounded view of wellness, not specifically just physical health. I hope that you’re able to gain something from my mental health posts as well. The mind and body are deeply connected, and part of my goal in blogging is to convey this. Thank you to all who keep reading, commenting, and sending tweets my way! You help make writing fun for me!

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s one lesson you’ve learned from blogging?

Advice For College Students

Tags

Health, Relationships, Wellness

It’s that time of year again, the time when college students pack up their belongings and head back to campus for the year! It’s my favorite time of year, and I am lucky that I get to experience it year after year even though it’s been years since being a college student myself. For those of you heading to college (or have kids heading to college), I thought I’d pass along a bit of wisdom from someone who has witnessed many classes of students go through their years at college:

1. Learn to use your “yes” and “no” wisely. Say no to the bad without fear of being mocked by your peers. Say yes to the healthy friendships and healthy decisions presented to you. Get involved, but use your “yes” and “no” wisely so you don’t get overwhelmed, too overcommitted, and miss out on all the good “yes” times you could be having! Own your reactions!
2. Let go of the need for perfect. Way too many people I see lose out on so much that college has to offer because they are in the ever-losing pursuit of perfect. Don’t let the great things in life be ruined by the need for perfection. Learn to challenge those perfectionistic thoughts.
3. Don’t be afraid to seek out the counseling center. These people see college students all day long, and will have seen and heard pretty much anything that you could throw their way at some point in the past. Even if you don’t have a “bad problem”, it’s a great place to sort through life questions and have someone to process things with.
4. Don’t go on such an intense hunt for a relationship that you miss out on good friendships. Far too often I see people worry so much about trying to find that guy or girl that they don’t invest their energy in building strong friendships from the start. Invest in friendships from the start!
5. Develop good strategies for dealing with stress. Put these into practice because college gets STRESSFUL.
6. Don’t pull all nighters. Just don’t do it. It’s almost never a necessary thing. I can confidently say that every single time I saw someone pulling an all nighter in college, it was only because they had poor time management. Use your time well and get some sleep. A lack of sleep causes lots of negative things in our life (increased feelings of depression, decreased immunity, problems in relationships, etc…), so place a priority on that!
7. Connect with great professors in your major. These professors are not only a great source of encouragement, but will be there to help connect you with people in the outside world or write those great references for grad school or jobs! I had two professors in particular that I talked to a good deal, and I still connect with them on a regular basis.
8. Don’t place too high expectations on your friendships. This is one I see far too often, unfortunately. We have this idea that our friendships in college will last forever, so we want to make sure we make good ones. Sometimes this causes us to dismiss some of the great friendships we might have because they don’t seem like life-long friends! Please don’t do this! Connect with lots of people and build up lots of friendships to see which ones really take off. Sometimes it’s the friendships that you least expect that will carry through the years.
9. Travel. Study Abroad. Go on work trips. Traveling and being in other countries helps us to process our own lives and the world really differently. College is a fantastic platform for traveling, so just do it!
10. Don’t be afraid to try and fail. Our fear of failure can hold us back from trying all sorts of things in life, things that might change the course of our life in some way! It’s ok to fall down and stumble a bit; it’s how we learn and grow and become the people we’re meant to be!
11. Be considerate of your roommates and treat people the way you want to be treated. Don’t give people a dose of their own medicine, and don’t try to get even. Treat your room and your space the way you would want your roommate to treat it. Be in good communication with your roommate, and don’t be passive aggressive. Good communication can save a lot of rooming headaches.
12. Stay on top of your work. Procrastination is SO easy, but if you work little by little then nothing seems quite as overwhelming as if you’re pulling an all nighter (see #6).

Maybe I’ll write a “part 2” to this. When you spend most of your hours with college students you tend to learn quite a bit…

For now I want to hear from you! What are your best tips for college students? What’s one lesson you had to learn the hard way in college?

Mental Health Monday: Thought Record & Reframing Negative Thought Patterns

Tags

CBT, Mental Health, Wellness

A month ago I posted about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and the connection between our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. We each have some distorted or irrational thought patterns, and this can lead to a lot of negative feelings about ourselves, situations, or others (and can also lead to symptoms of things like anxiety and depression). I’ve found with my clients that we can talk all we want about changing thinking patterns, but it’s really hard to do at first if we just think about it. That’s why I encourage my clients to externalize those thought patterns and write them down. It’s easier to see and change patterns when they are external to us, and once we practice them, we can internalize them. I liken it to the idea of math time tests. While time tests were certainly not fun to do over and over again, it helped those equations to become natural and automatic. Now, we have to expend almost no energy because we immediately know what 2+2 is. That’s our goal with healthy thought patterns as well. Last week I talked about the REBT self help form which can help to process the thought, feeling, behavior connection. Today I am going to talk about another form that I use on an almost daily basis with clients: The Thought Record Sheet.

This form asks a number of questions to help walk you through identifying your current emotion and thought, as well as asking you to gather support for and against the disturbing thought. It then has you write a new, more healthy thought, and re-rate your emotion based on the new thought. It takes a few minutes, but the more you do it the more automatic your new healthy and rational thought will be. The goal isn’t to make things a fake happy, because that’s not realistic either. It’s ok for a situation to be frustrating, but this form helps keep the views balanced and rational. By keeping a log like this, it’s easy to track triggers for our stress, anxiety, or depression and allows us to prepare in advance of those situations. Even if you aren’t struggling with anxiety or depression, this form can still be of great use as we each have distorted thoughts from time to time.

The faster you can catch these thoughts and re-write them into a more balanced and realistic form, the more healthy you will think, feel, and behave! Externalizing your thoughts and slowing down to fill out the form can also keep you from quickly snowballing or jumping to conclusions. You can click here for a PDF of the thought record sheet that you can print off and keep available for your stressful moments.

On a personal note, going through this process has made a big difference in my own life. While I don’t necessarily fill out this form much anymore, I’ve practiced it numerous times and am often able to catch those patterns when I say them and am then able to change it to something more realistic.

Now it’s your turn to share! How might you be able to use a thought record in your life? Can you identify any common negative beliefs that you hold onto in your life? 

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to take the place of a therapist or doctor. If you are experiencing anxiety or depression, please talk to your doctor or a local counselor. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or have a plan, please call 911, go to the hospital, or call your doctor or therapist. 

 

Pinspirational Monday

Tags

Exercise, Health, Quotes, Wellness

I thought I’d start this Monday out with a bit of inspiration from pinterest. Here’s a few of the pins I’ve found recently that I like or that got me to think a bit:

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I really like these quotes. A lot.

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s the next dream you would like to accomplish? How might your health choices today affect your future?

January Recap

Tags

Exercise, Food, Half Marathon, Health, Running, Training, Travel, Wellness

Wow- January flew by really quickly this year! Does it feel like it went quickly for anyone else? January has been a great month of getting organized and checking a lot of items that have accumulated over the last few months on my “to do list”. It was also an exciting month as I took a few new steps of wellness in my life, and had a few new experiences.

• At the beginning of the month I made an exciting new announcement!
• I started making Green Monster smoothies
• I watched the Olympic trials for the first time
• I spent many hours each weekend cleaning and de-cluttering my life. It feels so great and my house feels lighter.
• I tried the Melting Pot for the first time, and enjoyed a 3 hour dining experience.
• I found a great deal on Chobani and went a little crazy with 33 containers of it! It’s delicious, healthy, and I have no self-control when it comes to it:)
• I made it through my first four weeks of half marathon training: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, & Week 4
• I’ve been very intentional about hydrating, and have made my goal of 65-75 ounces each day, but have usually consumed more then that!
• I’ve gotten between 7.5 and 8.5 hours of sleep each night, and I feel much more energetic throughout the day.
• I had a great experience doing speed work while running through an airport (recap of that run coming soon!)
• And of course many more little joys in life

Overall I’m really happy with the way that January has gone and the goals that I have met.

A few goals for February:

• Continue with my 65-75 ounces of fluid each day
• Continue to sleep about 8 hours each night
• Complete my part of a paper that I’m publishing
• Complete the next few weeks of my half marathon training well and without injury
• Enjoy a fun weekend with my parents and brother
• Continue to clean out the spare bedroom and organize all the articles I’ve saved
• Read at least one book this month
• Continue to stretch 4-5 times each week
• Do 45-50 minutes of planks this month

I’m excited for this next month ahead!

Now it’s your turn to share: Did you meet your January goals? What was one exciting thing that you accomplished these past 31 days? Do you have any goals for the next month? 

My First 13.1 Mile Walk

Tags

Exercise, Health, Walking, Wellness

After my 4 mile run last weekend, I woke up Sunday a bit stiff and sore. I iced and foam rolled, and put on compression socks for the day. I think I mentioned in my last post that I go walking a few times a week with a friend who went to grad school with me. After we graduated and had a bit more free time, we decided to take an active role in our health. We got together with another friend on Sunday evening, and she casually asked me if I wanted to walk a half marathon on Monday. We’ve been talking about this for over a year, and really wanted to get it in before the weather got too chilly, so Monday sounded good to me. EXCEPT- I was still feeling sore from pushing myself hard on Saturday.

Monday morning I woke up early, ate a breakfast of oatmeal (with apples), and began hydrating while icing my knee and hip. Lunch was almond butter on both sides of a bagel, pomegrate Chobani, and some fruit. I made sure to back in protein and carbs before to keep me going.

I’ll be honest. I was pretty nervous about setting out for 13.1 miles. It’s a long distance, even for walking, and I wasn’t sure how I would hold up as I was still achy from my last run. By mile 3 my foot was hurting, but I refused to quit. I started looking it as a half mile- i just needed to go a half a mile. When I hit that half mile, I’d say it again. Luckily I had a friend to talk to so I could keep my mind off the pain, and finally we hit mile 7, where we re-fueled (protein Luna bar). That mile went a bit faster since I was eating which took some focus from my foot. Then it was back to focusing on a half mile at a time.

Before I knew it, I looked down at my phone and BOOM! 13.2 miles!

There’s your proof!

I WALKED A HALF MARATHON! For a split second I felt guilty being excited because people run marathons and ironmans. But then I realized- even if I walked it, it’s more then I could do a few years ago, and it’s more then a lot of people could do. It’s OK to be excited about it, because it’s an ACCOMPLISHMENT.

So then I got REALLY excited, and jumped up and down a bit, then immediately hurried home for a marathon foam rolling and icing session.

VERY EXCITED to be done with my first 13.1 miles…hence the huge smile:)

So now I’ve walked a half marathon distance, and I want more! My foot is hurting a bit so I’m trying to take a few rest days and icing so I don’t make anything worse. I have a race in 2 weeks and am doing everything I can to make sure I run it!

Should I have walked that distance? Um, probably not given the strain on my body from the few days earlier, and my training. Am I happy I did though? ABSOLUTELY.

I walked a half marathon!

Now it’s your turn! What’s one of your proudest accomplishments in life? What’s your next goal towards health? 

Caroline is on the Run!

Tags

Health, Running, Wellness

Oooh- my first post! Welcome to my journey for wellness and health in life. Health and wellness is a hard journey-one which we will never be done with in life. Since graduating with a degree in counseling, I’ve been actively trying to increase wellness and implement healthy behaviors in my life. Once I graduated, I started reading healthy living blogs in the evenings. This ended each day with me focusing on wellness and evaluating myself on the day. Because of this, I began to be motivated to increase my exercise and physical fitness amongst other things.

It’s been a year long journey so far, and it’s been fantastic. There have certainly been rough moments along the way (One time I tried to convince a friend to lay down on the side of the path we were walking on and wait for 3 hours until a friend could pick us up-yikes!), but so far it’s all been worth it. At some point I plan to go back and actually document parts of my journey leading up to today (It’s pretty good- I promise). To help motivate myself, document my personal growth, and become part of a community that I’ve enjoyed, I decided to start a blog.

Today, however, I’m giddy because I broke 2 personal records! For the last 6 weeks, I’ve been doing interval training, and haven’t seen how far I can run without stopping since my birthday. At that point it was 20 minutes (about 1.5 miles for me). Well, today I tried once again (I think I was inspired by Ali on the Run finishing her first marathon this morning)! I got into a great breathing rhythm almost immediately, and refused to let myself walk. Before I knew it I was at 2.5 miles, and I began to realize that I could do an entire 5k (3.1 miles) without walking once. When I hit the 3.1 mile mark, I realized that I not only had finished it 2.5 minutes faster then ever before, but that I was also fine and could keep going. I ran a total of 4 miles today, and I’m so proud of myself. Given the health issues that I’ve had to battle through, I truly never thought I would be capable of doing what I did today. Needless to say, I’m happy:)

I love using the Runkeeper app for my phone to gage my pace, map my run, and see my splits. It’s an easy way to track the progress that I’ve made. Here are my splits for today:

Well, I got a little slower every mile, but considering that I ran 2.5 miles longer then ever before, I think I’m ok with that.

CLEARLY I was actually thrilled with the time. This was me after the run:

 

Isn’t it great that my face happens to match my shirt? Really attractive. I do love that shirt though.

I’m off to foam roll, ice my knee, and eat.