choices

Make Healthy A Habit – Day Ten

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In the name of health, sometimes you have to make yourself do something even if you don’t want to do it.

As the momentum of the new year wears off, getting into the habit of making daily healthy choices has not been as easy for me as I would have liked.

I have to expect some unhappiness and frustration, though right?  If it was easy, I would have done it years ago. But now it’s time for the tough to get tougher as the struggle hits.

So rather than focus on the difficulty of breaking bad habits, I think I’ll focus on the new healthy habits that have already begun to settle in…

I rode my bike to the store for some things we needed today even though it was cold and the car was right there.

And then for a snack, I made dehydrated apple chips. I haven’t bought a bag of potato chips since I began this project and for me, that’s a big deal. (I friggin’ love kettle chips.)

I suppose that some things will come more naturally for me, like biking instead of driving, while other things, like quitting fast food fries, will be more difficult. That’s just part of the deal.

And discipline and strength have a ton to do with it.

I think if I summon these two things,  I’ll make it past the initial difficulty of breaking the bad habits that have become such a part of my life and replace them with the healthier ones that I want.

It’s a matter of staying strong. Wish me well as I keep moving forward… (and go another weekend without a glass of wine!)

Make healthy a habit. #makehealthyahabit

 

**For the original idea, please visit here.

 

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Make Healthy A Habit – Day Seven

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Today, I’ve been quite absorbed with something I’m editing and haven’t given much thought toward food.

And it’s these moments that I realize I tend to make unhealthy choices.

I’ll typically grab something that’s easy like fast food or a slice of pizza but those are exactly the type of choices I’m trying to change.

I’m thinking I need a better plan for when I’m in a rush and/or don’t have time to prepare a meal from scratch…

Right now, I’m going to do my best to cobble something together quickly with the few healthy groceries I have in my fridge and pantry so I can get back to work but this realization that I need to better prepare myself by having healthy food available on the go is an important lesson learned. And I’d love any suggestions!

Healthy choices will not always be convenient. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still make them.

Make healthy a habit. #makehealthyahabit

 

**For the original idea, please visit here.

 

 

 

Make Healthy A Habit – Day Two

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I spent the afternoon with my two nephews, having fun painting and laughing and playing. And I adored every moment.

Well, maybe except one…

While I was hanging with them, my mother asked if I would like to take home a box of cereal bars that she had extra. My first reaction was “Yeah, I like those.” But then, as I reached across the table, I said, “Wait, I’m doing something for health and trying to not have fructose.” I quickly scanned the ingredients and yup, sure enough, fructose syrup was a main one.

And then it hit me.

To change daily habits, I have to be on them like white on rice.

I have to put my habits in check. I have to be conscious about the health choices I make.

I have to think about what I eat and what’s inside what I eat. I have to be aware with all decisions. I can’t do what’s best for my body on only the convenient ones.

I realize this is going to mean that I will not be able to enjoy some foods that I have grown used to…

Now, will I go to restaurants and ask for no fructose? No way. But will I use diligence to limit it? Absolutely.

So I passed on the cereal bars.

Tonight, my husband and I are going to have a steak dinner without drinking wine. For some, that’s no big deal. But for a wine lover like myself, I’m wondering what I did to deserve this.

Yes, I will have red wine again. But going a weekend without some should be no big deal. And a great dinner doesn’t have to include it EVERY TIME.

Make healthy a habit. #makehealthyahabit

 

**For the original idea, please visit here.

 

A Gift

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I’ve been given a gift for over thirty-five years but I only just realized it this past weekend.

Times are tough for many people. There are a load of sad songs being sung and I’d venture to bet that almost anyone could tell you a sob story about personal hardship they’ve experienced this past year alone. Life is far from perfect. And unfortunately, justice isn’t always part of the equation. But some people actually have it incredibly hard, like those in any holocaust or soldiers in battle, while most others only think they do.

Several months ago, a friend of mine told me that I don’t let people just feel bad about things. I always have to try to find the silver lining, she said. And I was thinking, “Why are you saying that like it’s a bad thing?” She was, saying it like she wished I was otherwise.

And then a few days ago, a friend of mine was feeling sorry for himself. Yes, he’s going through a very tough time, and it sucks, but I couldn’t listen to it. I mean, he’s not being put to death in a gas chamber or anything. Yeah, he might have to do a ton of hard work, and probably a lot of it isn’t going to make him thrilled, but I think unless you’re one of those who gets everything handed to them on a silver platter, and life is always fair to you, my advice is get off your ass and do something about which you’re complaining. And I mean truly do something, 100% percent, from dawn to dusk.

After I ranted, I realized how fortunate I’ve been because of a gift my parents bestowed upon me all the years of my life. It’s not a gift money could buy. Or a gift one could wrap with paper and a nice bow. It’s a gift one has to see demonstrated before their very own eyes. It’s a gift one has to learn.

It’s the gift of understanding how to accept one’s life as their own and be responsible for it.

This doesn’t mean life is fair by the way. It isn’t. Some are born into riches, others into poverty. But this gift can be applied to either situation.

I choose to look for the silver linings in life. I choose to see the glass as being half full. I choose to believe positive energy begets the same because as Camus once said, “Life is a sum of all your choices.”

To try

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Have you ever heard of this idea or question or whatever you call it, that goes something like this:

Try to pick up that pencil. Either you do or you don’t. There is no try.

Well, it’s always stayed with me. I think I heard it in a film but I can’t be entirely sure of that. Regardless, I have been one who has thought trying wasn’t good enough. Either you do or you don’t. But what if trying is the doing? What then?

I’m a filmmaker (for those who don’t know) and I’m greatly trying to get my films out there. It’s been a hard road and sometimes, I get a bit down when I don’t reach the heights I set for each of my films or my career as a whole for that matter. There have been wonderful moments, like playing at a festival and then having someone from the audience come up to me to talk about my film, but there’s also been really sad moments, such as recently, when my latest film gets one rejection after the next. So sometimes, I struggle with keeping my positivity in check.

But I try.

I try to keep the faith. I try to stay on track. I try to keep moving forward. I try to get my life to a place I want it to be. I try to find someone to share it with. I try to see reality. I try to be honest. I try to love. I try to treat others with respect. I try to be creative in all that I do. I try to understand everything I can. I try to be conscious. I try to make my one opportunity at life be everything I want it to be.

I try. But sometimes, I don’t succeed.

And with this trying, comes some depression, hardship, anxiety, reality battling my dreams, dealing with the truth, deciding what I will accept or not accept from others, figuring out if there’s someone out there I could love and could love me back…

But still, I try. And I will try for as long as I can breathe.

In a beautifully written moment in my favorite new show BOARDWALK EMPIRE, the main character says to the woman he’s with after she starts to realize he has a dark side, “We all have to decide for ourselves how much sin we can deal with.” Wow. Poignant. But maybe it’s applicable here also. Perhaps we all just have to figure out what we’re willing to try and not.

Sure, you may be able to pick up a pencil. That’s easy. But some things, like going after your dream job or finding your true love, aren’t so easy. So you have to try. And you might not succeed but maybe, just maybe, the trying is enough.

I don’t know, but at least I’m trying to figure it out…

mortality

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I am watching “Breaking Bad” and have become hooked. Great show. Unbelievable writing, acting, direction… I don’t watch much television. In fact, I probably turn it on once a week, but that’s taking into account I watch television shows after the fact when they come out on DVD or will try to catch up on hulu.com if it’s something I enjoy while I’m eating or something, like The Office (though without Micheal Scott, they reallllllly need to call it a day.)

Anyway, as I watch “Breaking Bad”, I am reminded of the importance of life and how at any moment it can be taken from us, whether it be from cancer, criminal activity, accident, happenstance or just dumb luck. And the only moment we have is the one we are currently in. That said, this blog is not written with the intent of being morbid, but rather with the intention to wake people from the living dead.

The living dead.

What a waste.

Look around. It’s easy to see many people just going through the motions like a robot, doing what the think they should be but not what they actually want, almost as if they are just trying to make it to the next day, without feeling anything. I don’t know about you, but this saddens me when I see it. And if you haven’t noticed it, perhaps it’s because you are one of the living dead.

Life itself is THE “once in a lifetime opportunity” so how can it be wasted so easily??

I don’t get it. Fortunately, I was raised by parents who encouraged me to go after my dreams and I will be forever grateful but I also had to come to my own conclusions that I didn’t want to just settle for what others thought was best or for what one was “supposed” to do, especially to fit within societal mores.

Now, this is not to imply everyone should feel similar or think just like me. Not at all. What’s important to one person may not be important to the next, and that’s completely okay, provided no one forces ANYTHING upon another person. (Protection from that is actually what government is for, but I digress…) If you’re happy working on a corn field in Iowa, then by all means, go get yourself a job on one and enjoy! If you’re happy having ten children with your high school sweetheart, more power to you!

The point is to find what IS important to you, what motivates you, what you are truly passionate about and love with every inch of you being and GO AFTER THAT.*

Life can be taken at any moment, regardless of how careful one lives, but one can fight with all their might not to be the cause of their own death through the choices they make and also, not to go down without living the life one wants to live.

It’s NEVER too late until you take your last breath.

You have one chance before death comes and that is your life. Are you making the most of it?

I find it’s a good question to ask myself…

* (Again, I must point out this does not include use of force on any other person to achieve anything you want.)