Seeing Results

Yet another personal epiphany struck me this past weekend - one that helped me wrap my mind around why I succeed at some things in life, but then fail to get off the ground in another area. Turns out that it all boils down to me being a visual person. 

Just about anyone who really knows me knows that I am a pretty organized person. I make my bed in the mornings, I keep a neat desk and I love checking things off of lists. These things are rewarding to me because I can actually SEE the progress I'm making - a made bed, an organized workspace and a paper full of crossed-off items. It's actually why I enjoy vacuuming too - I can see the instant results!

However, this is also unfortunately the reason that my weight loss journey seems to get derailed after a week or two of hard work. Sure, I can see the number on the scale creep downwards, but not seeing a physical change gets discouraging and eventually knocks me off the exercise and healthy eating horse.

After being hit in the skull with this realization, I've since taken some action to try to combat this urge to quit when I don't see visible results in my own, short timeframe. Let's see how it works! I'll keep you posted.

(mini) SPRING BREAK!

As a "working adult" with a handful of jobs I don't find myself with many breaks in my schedule other than on or around major holidays. So when I get the opportunity to take a full day off to do a "vacation-y" type of thing, you better believe I'm going to be excited about it. Especially when I get to spend that day with a very special person.

On Tuesday, Karin and I went to the Museum of Science & Industry to spend the day together - a day away from work, school and wedding planning (for the most part). We enjoyed a nice breakfast to start the day then headed downtown. While Karin had been to the museum years ago, I'd never formally been there as a museum patron. I'd had a Trinity formal there and also filmed a documentary there, but I'd never gotten to just walk around and experience it.

A couple videos from the museum - standing under falling, visible CO2 and in a 80 mph wind tunnel.

Despite the slightly painful three hours of walking (Karin had worked out the day before), we enjoyed seeing a lot of pretty cool things like an indoor tornado, baby chickens hatching, a game you could play with your mind and even blocks that you could use to play music. We also attended an OmniMax showing of "Vortex 2" - a documentary all about chasing tornados. All in all, it was a great day where I could get out from behind my desk, away from my computer and spend some quality time with my future wife.

Productivity Amid Distractions

Well I've certainly found out a lot about myself these last couple weeks. It's interesting because these aren't new situations I'm finding myself in - I've been through this kind of thing before. This isn't the first time in my life that I've felt overwhelmed, stressed and disoriented. It's not the first time I've had an ever-growing list of things to do and had to figure out how to use my time wisely. So why am I realizing new things now as opposed to every other time I've been through this?

I've always known I was an organized, plan-things-out-before-going-forward type of person. It's a trait I'm glad I've inherited from my mother. I make daily lists. I organize my desk before getting staring my work. I schedule my days. It's when I stop doing these things that I start to come apart at the seams. So what does this discovery say about me?

Does it mean that I am fully dependent on a set schedule and shouldn't deviate from it without risking a meltdown? Does it mean I need to learn how to adapt to changes and still be able to accomplish what I set out to? Does it mean I need to scale back on my To Do Lists? I think I'm going to have to go with Door #2, Wayne <---- (click)

Why do small hiccups in my "plan" completely send me into a tail spin of accomplish-lessness? While this pertains to a majority of my assignments for myself, it sadly rears its ugly head the most when I'm in a groove of losing weight. I need to stop having mini self-pity parties and get right back to where I left off, not go on a week-long binge session of Taco Bell, pizza and soda...

September 2nd is getting closer and closer every day, and I made a promise that I'd be down to 199 by then. *GULP* - I can't afford any more time off to feel bad for myself!