108 spiders are a girl's best friends

Msmoneyspider

Thanks doingitanyway, go for it!

This has been a particularly calm, contented and sheltered holiday period and I really want to hold on to the feeling.

I am very conscious that I get sucked in to other people's heightened dramas and emotions very quickly, in my line of work and I don't want to do that this year. It takes up too much of my life force and makes it very difficult to stick to my own goals.

Instead, I am going to practice a short mantra/mudra, when I start to feel myselt becoming unbalanced. The plan is to breathe deeply and slowly. touching my thumbs and fingers lightly together while repeating, "peace begins with me".

If the above fails to lower my blood pressure and anxiety, I will call some time out and listen to Enya's "Watermark" and find peace through entrainment .

That is the plan ,,,,, I will need lots of self control to put it into practice though. Wish me luck!! I am going to add a mudra and the cover of "Watermark" to my vision board.

Msmoneyspider

Morning diary, well the scores on the doors after one week in are:-

Date Steps Calories Weight
28h Dec 1049 1256 187.2
29th Dec 2924 1415
30th Dec 8620 1799
31st Dec 8772 1066
1st Jan 7345 1206
2nd Jan 3689 1191
3rd Jan 2647 1314 185.0
Totals 5007 1321 -2.2

My calories are pretty much bang on for the week and I have been making healthy choices, for the most part, not feeling deprived or hungry.

My steps are much less than I expected and I managed no bounces, but I did seem to be moving much more than usual! It is really scary to think that my exercise levels had fallen so low.

Overall I am very happy with a 2.2 pound loss, but I am adjusting my goals to 5,500 steps and 100 bounces a day and 1350 calories.

Money wise I haven't spent anything as cupboards and freezers were full; cancelled all memberships/subscriptions that were not being used and returned all Christmas purchases that were not needed.

Overall I really enjoyed the week and getting back into an MSE mindset. Onwards and Upwards.

savingholmes

Your office does sound relaxing - as do beach walks. It's a dream of mine to move to the coast.

Msmoneyspider

I am sure your dreams will manifest savingholmes, you have the knack!

I was with one of my oldest and dearest friends yesterday. She is the most selfless, loving person I know, caring for everyone, but her own health is terrible as she always puts herself last and comfort eats on an industrial scale. This last year two people have taken advantage of her in the most appaling way.

On Friday, the first person in my office was another incredibly long suffering person who has been caring continuously for 10 years, nursing her mother, husband and mother-in-law (until they died). She is now looking after her relatively new partner through an incurable, degenerative illness 24/7 and she is completely burned out and severely depressed. At her most vulnerable, recently, a jack booted relative almost managed to snuff out the smoldering wick.

They both reminded me of my theme for this year, which is to heal the healer and put my own oxygen mask on first. There is no telling these two lovely people that they are important too, but I want to be a good example of how to survive in the caring profession rather than a terrible warning. God knows I have seen plenty of those.

The statistics are that 65% of carers are female and 30% of them die before the person they are caring for. Unpaid carers who provide high levels of care for sick, or disabled relatives and friends, are more than twice as likely to suffer from poor health compared to people without caring responsibilities,

Message to self: "Caregivers are as important as the people they care for. If they abuse their bodies, minds and spirits while caring for others, no one wins".

No self sabotaging - going to go for another beach walk today, with my flask and a sandwich and an inspiring book plugged into my ears .. It will be another NSD.

Msmoneyspider

This headline 'spoke' to me this morning.

"Finland To Introduce ‘4 Day Working Week’ And '6 Hour Days' Under PM Sanna Marin.

The concept of a shorter work week travelled across the world when in November Microsoft Japan took a bold move in a bid to improve work-life balance by introducing a three-day weekend for their employees and showed a staggering 39.9 per cent in productivity".

I have my four day working week now, but in order to show a 40% increase in productivity!! I am going to need to really plan my work and work my plan, I also intend to enjoy the journey.

I have been spending the weekend - trying to figure out any remaining blocks I have to achieving my goals and blowing out old cobwebs and mindsets that nolonger serve me.

I am doing this!!

doingitanyway

I too think 4 days a week working and 6 hour days are about right

Msmoneyspider

I got a really big frog done yesterday, completing an UCAS form for a course with a large (10K a year bursary attached to it). The course marries extremely well with parts of the work that I have been doing, over the last four years, that I particularly enjoy. I may not go down this route, or even be accepted, but if the form had not been submitted by the 15th January 2020, the possibility would have been cut off and I am not ready to let it go.

I feel like a huge river that has loads of small, interesting tributaries that I have been meandering down, but in 2020 I am going to keep my focus on the big picture, the main body of water, which are three strategic ports of call. My first destination is our family holiday in Southern Spain at the beginning of May 2020.

Vision Board
By 1st May 2020 I am 16 pounds lighter. (4lb a month and perfectly doable. (Vision board - gorgeous Spanish senorita).
By 1st May 2020 I will not have used up my reserves (£16,000) and I will have increased the buffer by £1,000.00.(Vision Board - cheque to self for £17,000.00)

7th January and still enjoying the journey. Onwards and Upwards ……..

Msmoneyspider

My steps are sinking back down into the 3,000's a day and that is not going to get me the body of a super senorita (or senior rita in my case) ….

I usually spend around 45 minutes each morning getting tea ready, putting a wash on, out ironed and away, toilets swished and then myself washed, dressed and breakfasted. It is a lot of work, but for some reason this was scoring me around 250 steps … How was that even possible?

I tracked myself yesterday and I had unconsciously got this down to such a fine art that I had been using the minimum amount of steps possible to accomplish the above …..

So today I did the tasks, consciously trying to increase my step count. I went up and down the stairs quickly, 4 times, to put the washing away, did a few trips to the car to put things in it and the piece de resistance …. I finished my 'workout' by standing before this computer and dancing to the choreography below. Still only on 1200 steps and tbh it felt like 10,000 steps, however, I have a tidy house and I enjoyed it. If the neighbours did not think I was mad before …..

Señorita - Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello / Hyojin Choi Choreography

TWO KEY AREAS OF FOCUS

Vision Board
By 1st May 2020 I am 16 pounds lighter. (4lb a month and perfectly doable. (Vision board - gorgeous Spanish senorita).
By 1st May 2020 I will not have used up my reserves (£16,000.00) and I will have increased the buffer by £1,000.00.(Vision Board - cheque to self for £17,000.00)

Msmoneyspider

I am just back from my art class, it was great. I finished off a picture of a golden eagle and she looks very focused, determined and disciplined, happy in her own skin. Tomorrow she is going on my office wall and will be my symbol for 2020.

I love birds - 2019 was the year of the magpie, one of the most difficult of my life, with many endings and a huge amount of self-sacrifice.

I tried to see the blessing in each curse and finished the year content to be me, nolonger bothered about ultimate truth or trying to save others.

I don't wish anybody any harm, but this is my time to focus on my own unique path and I am going to enjoy the experience. I am avoiding any dramas, outside of ones that I create and am ultimately responsible for.

I will let others own their own muck-ups, stories and destinations. In 2020, I will 'Let go and let Live'.

Msmoneyspider

Another day, another dollar …..

I folllowed the same morning routine, as yesterday, and managed to clock up 1,700 steps before breakfast. I added some stretches to the Senorita routine and felt energised afterwards, I also drank a litre of water too. Left the house tidy again and it felt good. I did 6,300 steps yesterday so today I will aim for 6,500. One step at a time, I will get to my destination.

Today I will bounce to the James Blunt 'The Greatest' and do two big frogs:-

1. Report, which will take me around 5 hours.
2. Preparation for a meeting which will take 1 hour.

TTFN