Red or Green? Red or Blue?

Red or green? That's the question (perhaps even the motto) of New Mexico when you are eating in restaurant there. They are referring to your desire for red or green pepper salsa with your meals. Choices! I took this picture of peppers, not in New Mexico, but in rural Wisconsin. The baskets were sitting on a vegetable stand on the farm of an Amish family. Just couldn't resist the colorful picture, taken last fall.

We're listening to the presidential debate tonight so I thought it's appropriate to also title today's blog "Red or Blue?" Choices! You get to make a choice, a very important choice. Like most Americans, we have our preferences, some prefer "blue," others prefer "red." They both have their positives and not-so-positive aspects. Choices!

The farm where I took this picture, that family also have a choice between presidential candidates. However, I think it's ironic that they will not be watching the candidates debate as they have no electricity. They will be reading about the candidates, not hearing or watching them. Their vote will count the same as mine. Choices! Don't forget to make your choice known by voting in November! God bless America and our freedoms.

Walking & Walls

I have an aptitude for accounting. I like to figure out how much of this and that. I know that I have two routes to work. One is 9.8 miles & takes me 15 minutes from garage to parking lot. The other route is 12.1 miles and takes approximately 20-25 minutes. I usually take the shorter, faster route, but last night I took the "scenic" (i.e. longer, slower) route to go home. I work in a five-story hospital that you can see from the nearest intersection on the scenic route and of course I have clocked-it so I know that is 2 miles.

When I got to the intersection last night, I thought "that was 2 miles." I looked behind me and my hospital looked soooooo distant. "Oh, my gosh! That's how far I walked this morning." Two miles! If someone would have told me a month ago that I would walk the distance from the hospital to that intersection at one time and in less than an hour I would have said they were crazy!

The body is really quite remarkable. The fact that it keeps us alive when we feed it high calorie, low nutritional food is remarkable. The fact that it can go from being sluggish and being short of breath going across that parking lot to walking two miles in 40 minutes is remarkable. And all within three weeks.

A couple of days ago in my blog I mentioned how I have gotten in and out of the habit of walking quite regularly. Yesterday I told my boss that I have started walking in the mornings. She had previously told me that she runs every morning before work, so I was quite surprised when she said, "I have not run for 2 weeks." Long hours at work and the stress of a major project (that thankfully I don't have to be a part) has caused her to miss her running. I suddenly felt sorry for her as I know she had expressed joy in running. Yes, it is so easy to slip back into habits that may not kill us, but certainly aren't the best. Yes, our bodies are remarkable and resilient to our habits and actions. Sometimes.

"You deserve a break today." Isn't that slogan for some company? Well, I tell myself that very often, especially when I have made some accomplishments or suffered some stress. I have made accomplishments in the past three weeks, walking, losing weight, eating smaller portions, eating healthier foods, and expressing myself. This is the point where I hit the wall! Not the wall of pain but the wall of .... I have lost weight, I deserve a treat.... I walked two miles yesterday, I deserve a morning off.... My clothes are looser (never mind that they are size 20-22!), I deserve... I deserve.... I deserve. Get the picture. In my past and in my present, this is where I have to work at fighting complacency. Complacency: A feeling of contentment or satisfaction; gratification. Self satisfaction, smugness. Yes, I think I will definitely call it the "wall of complacency."

That wall (another W word) has been my un-doing on more than one (more likely one hundred) occasions. This week was tough for me. Hubby was in California visiting daughter & grand kids and I had the house to myself. I get to eat what I want! I made some good choices and some not so good choices in food and drink. However, I did walk every day.

Complacency is a feeling, an emotion. So as I said in the beginning, this project is not just about the physical aspects of healthy living, it's the emotions and the spiritual too. Right now, the emotions need to be .... I don't know... maybe expressed is the best word. Emotions need to be expressed.