12 in 12, Month 1, Day 3

One thing I have learned over the years is that there is usually greater success in making change, for myself and/or for the greater good, when accountable.

Publishing my plans, commitments, goals and inspirations helps keep me on track, especially if I publish regular reports of my progress. It’s the times that I have nothing to report that leave me feeling awful for not sticking with my plan.

I also rely a lot on my Partner-in-crime to keep me honest. He asks me if I did what I committed to doing. He encourages me to fit it in even when I feel like I can’t. He cheers for me when I follow through.

Today I almost didn’t get my walk in. I had great plans and was really looking forward to it. Then things came up, and my pain escalated. Ian came home and sent me out the door before I did anything else. It was a lovely evening for a walk and I truly enjoyed my solitude for the 30 minutes. 🙂

What are you working on that could use a little boost? Have you made it public? Are you reporting to those who know about it? Have you found the strategy to be useful to you?

Drop me a note in the comments below, or connect with me on Twitter @ceilidhontherun, email me at ceilidho at ceilidhontherun dot com, or use my contact form!

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12 in 12 – Month 1 – Day 2

30 minute walk complete.

Weather was really awful, and I had no idea what time to expect my children to be dropped off by their dad, so I opted to use the treadmill to get my walk in anyway in the morning. After reading more from Steve Kamb about barefoot running on Nerd Fitness I decided to try barefoot walking. I could definitely feel a difference in my stride, etc. Otherwise, I came off unscathed. Perhaps I’ll try again sometime.

People ask when I have a regular fitness routine how I fit it all in. Having a treadmill certainly helps. I actually don’t mind walking on the treadmill … because I can read! Try doing that safely outdoors! (I’ll admit to listening to audiobooks when walking/running sometimes though). I’m reading a light read right now: “Knit the Season” by Kate Jacobs. It’s book three of a series I quite enjoy about a bunch of women with intertwined lives and friendships.

Somehow every escape story I have turned to since mom’s passing has had something in it about a mother (or other parent) dieing, and frequently of cancer. This is no exception, which I’d forgotten, however that actually happened in a previous book. Now people are getting on with things. Hopefully that’s me/us too.

So that helped to get the walk done, thanks to a little prodding from my hubby.

The rest of the day was spent finishing putting Christmas away, researching online, and shopping with my girlies.

Tomorrow? Who knows, but there will be a 30 min. walk in there somewhere!

How are your new year’s resolutions or 2012 commitments coming?

Drop me a note in the comments below, or connect with me on Twitter @ceilidhontherun, email me at ceilidho at ceilidhontherun dot com, or use my contact form!

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2012 – Day 1

So here we are, a new day, a new week, a new month, a new year. I made a plan for this year. 12 in 12: 12 commitments, 12 months in 2012. I simply plan that I will commit to one thing every month for the year of 2012. This month I am committed to walking. EVERYday.

There are plenty of changes that I want to make. Not because it is a new year, but because I am on medical leave and need to become healthy again. After an extremely stressful 2011, I can only hope things will begin to improve. Now that the holiday hubbub is over, and all of the major events required after my mother’s death complete, things have GOT to settle down.

I wrote in September how much I was looking forward to October, that is was finally time for me. Two weeks later mom was diagnosed with an untreatable cancer and her health began to decline steadily and rapidly. Time for me, was once again put on the backburner. And time for my mom & dad became the top priority. I still have things I wish to do for my mom, and with my dad, but there are no real timeframes anymore.

So this year is my year. It’s time to figure out what the hell I want to do when I grow up, and it’s time to do it. It’s time to get this pain under control. It’s time to stop living for tomorrow. Rather, to do right now and live for today, for this moment.

So I have things I wish to change, lots of them. I know that to jump in head first will have unwanted results. I need to make small changes in increments and make them for life. So until I get this walking thing established, all other changes that require consistency and discipline will wait.

Today, I walked. Tomorrow, I will walk again. One foot in front of the other. Babysteps to better health and wellness.

From 2011December3WeddingEdits

How do you implement change, and what are your priorities for the foreseeable future?

Drop me a note in the comments below, or connect with me on Twitter @ceilidhontherun, email me at ceilidho at ceilidhontherun dot com, or use my contact form!

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12in12 – a pleasant twist on resolutions

12 in 12 – fantastic take on resolutions from Fitarella.com

12 commitments, 12 months in 2012.

These are mine:

January

Walk at least 30 mins. Everday

Pick one for the next month Before the month end!:

Write (journal and/or blog) at least 60 mins. Everyday

Read at least 60 mins. Everday

Make and share one photo Everday

Unplug by 9pm Everyday

Practice yoga Everday

Cycle Everday

Run Everyday

Practise Mindfulness Everday

Practise Meditation Everday

Call someone I care about Everyday

Go to Goodlife Everyday

Please share your 12in12 with me below or drop me a note!

Drop me a note in the comments below, or connect with me on Twitter @ceilidhontherun, email me at ceilidho at ceilidhontherun dot com, or use my contact form!

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Losing control & finding your balance

In the face of uncontrollable challenges balance comes in managing that which can be.

Until recently life was very demanding but manageable. It has since reached my limit with another uncontrollable and emotionally charged journey. My balance came first in recognizing my limits and taking steps to prevent breaching them. A leave from work has allowed me the time I had previously struggled to find to take care of me.

I assured my doctor that the time would be spent wisely, making it a priority to nurture myself while working through all of life’s obligations and desires as a mother, spouse, sister, daughter, homemaker and friend.

When a loved one has a chronic illness and becomes a closer integral part of your immediate nucleus things can and do change drastically. When living arrangements accommodate that there is additional change. Add that to life’s everyday challenges and then another loved one becomes suddenly and seriously ill. It can seem impossible to cope.

We recently faced our loved one’s diagnosis of cancer. Our lives have turned upside down in so many ways, while we grasp at every sense of normalcy that we can. It is too easy to become consumed with the illness, too easy to forget that we are still here together … we must make this our time, now.

Those of you who have been there know how truly it does change your perspective. Life becomes precious. Life becomes finite. Life becomes its meaning. We must experience life with our eyes wide open, with all of our senses receiving and our minds fully aware.

How do you balance life when it creeps out of your control?

From Drop Box

I don’t have the answers. I can only do what feels right for me.

In an attempt to prevent chronic pain from escalating too severely I am pursuing a better daily routine of activity. Each day I try to include something physical, from yoga to fitness classes, to walking (perhaps even a swim or a bike ride). Each day I make time to read and/or write. I have some other projects that I try to fit in once in a while like photography/editing and scrapbooking. It is never enough. But I do my best.

I am watching what I eat, talking with family and friends, and trying to keep my family focused on a healthy balance of living while also trying to fight the devastating effects of this awful disease.

It’s a natural tendency to fall back into the despair, the fear, and the pain… Back into the unfairness of it all. We have to consciously choose to take cancer off the table at times and simply live.

For the benefit of all we must make it a priority to live life.

Drop me a note in the comments below, or connect with me on Twitter @ceilidhontherun, email me at ceilidho at ceilidhontherun dot com, or use my contact form!

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Come Together

When crises hit, families tend to come together like never before. While we go through the turmoil of the declining health of our loved one, we try to find the positive things to grab onto. I find the simple coming together of our family to be one of those, as I am sure do all of my family.

Helping one another to cope, emotionally and physically, we all are looking out for one another.

Regardless of the depth of the challenges you have faced, you must have experienced something like this to some degree. You come to realize just how many people’s lives you touch, and who you can really count on. Your family sometimes expands to include non-blood relations, but friends who care as deeply, possibly sometimes even more so.

We are so fortunate to have a family who has overcome great obstacles and can pull together without hesitation. It also brings us such relief to know that the community immediately surrounding my family geographically can and will step in when we are unable. Yet, we also know that the ones who can provide the greatest comfort are without doubt none other than ourselves.

I have learned through previous situations of crisis that I must be proactive and plan how I can deal with these challenges with the least long term impact on my own health. Ultimately, my health effecting my ability to function and care for my family on a day to day basis. It becomes necessary to look at the demands and determine which ones cannot or will not be lessened, whether or not it be by choice. Where there is room, changes must be made, including making self care an even greater priority.

This certainly is easier when a practise of self care is already integral to your daily routine.

What does this look like for you?

For me, I have had to choose what commitments I need to cut back on, then make the time to include activities that have been falling to the wayside. I am including Moksha Yoga in my regular weekly practise, starting every 3-4 days, and will gradually increase as my body adjusts (fibromyalgia changes things from what I once would have done). In between, I will include other fitness programs that are also low intensity (i.e. going to check out Goodlife‘s Bodyflow class in the next two days), walking, and hopefully swimming and cycling.

I also need an emotional outlet: this blog, my scrapbooks, my photography, and other creative outlets will hopefully allow my mind a better flow of functioning.

So far, I feel like I am managing alright. My pain is worse, but that’s to be expected. Hopefully a regular routine of self care will start to bring about some improvements, or at the very least prevent further escalation.

I find it helpful to share with others when making life changes. Are you on a similar path to find balance?

Drop me a note in the comments below, or connect with me on Twitter @ceilidhontherun, email me at ceilidho at ceilidhontherun dot com, or use my contact form!

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How do you handle the waiting?

Waiting.

Playing the waiting game.

Limbo.

Not knowing what comes next.

But knowing that whatever it is, it’s going to be hard.

People handle waiting in very different ways. For some the not knowing means focusing on the worst case scenario. It means thinking over, and over and over: “________ just can’t happen.” “I can’t lose my job.” “This cannot be true.” “He cannot die.”

For others, not knowing allows for the greatest amount of optimism. The optimist can believe wholeheartedly it is going to get better. That when the news comes it is going to provide an opportunity. That anything is possible. “Maybe, I’ll be one of the lucky ones.” “Maybe I am in the small fraction who will get better!” “With news will come the ability to make him more comfortable.”

I see my loved ones falling on different sides of the line.

In some cases they are at complete opposite extremes. Perhaps they balance each other out. The contrast helping the other accept the reality of the yet unknown truth.

I’m not sure where I fall. I tend to be a realist. However, I also believe in the power of positive thinking. I like to prepare myself for the worst, while hoping for the best.

How do you handle waiting for significant news? Especially if you don’t know when it’s coming?

Drop me a note in the comments below, or connect with me on Twitter @ceilidhontherun, email me at ceilidho at ceilidhontherun dot com, or use my contact form!

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Halifax Movember Launch Invitation

Team Diabetes Bluenose 5k: Race day

(Click for Part 1)

Sunday morning was upon us. I have not been training due to my chronic pain. B has not been training because she’s simply a really busy kid. I’m confident we’ll be fine, we have no time goals, we’re just going to have fun.

Auntie Dana arrives in time to head out for the races with us. She, Ian & Payten will volunteer with Team Diabetes at the final aid station at the finish line, handing out water to the finishers. After pee breaks we make our way to the start and watch the ~1000 marathoners start. It’s truly a remarkable site, all of those runners in one place. Next up are the half marathoners, then we make our way to the Team Diabetes gathering spot, get a pre-race photo taken and wait for our turn.

From Family 2011

The 5K is truly a fun event to participate in. There are runners & walkers, and while waiting for the start there are photo-ops, including with the race mascot Myles. A pre-race warm-up with something like 1500 runners/walkers all attempting to follow an impromptu aerobic routine certainly got everyone into the spirit of things.

From Family 2011
From Family 2011

Breanna was nervous about the race, but she did fantastic. She ran a pretty steady pace most of the course, with only a few breaks to walk or stretch out a tight muscle. She and another Team D participant played tag for the duration of the 5K, whenever one passed the other, leap-frogging along. With just enough challenge to make it feel like a personal accomplishment, we were so happy to have been a part of the Bluenose on behalf of Team Diabetes and my sister. The icing on the cake was having Dana there with Ian & Payten to congratulate us at the finish line!

From Family 2011

Running for a cause with one of my most precious

It’s amazing what one can bring themselves to do when it involves a cause one believes in passionately. I have run for Team Diabetes twice before. My involvement was prompted by my sister’s late-in-life (relatively speaking) Type 1 diagnosis. She was 30, her sugars 31. Within two months she began having seizures. It’s been a very difficult battle, with many, many new health complications. All of which interact and effect the other. I signed on with Team D when I was at a complete loss to support her while living on the opposite side of this vast country.

Last year my ten-year-old told me upon finishing that she wanted to run for Team D herself next time. Next time, was this past weekend. Much of the fundraising I was able to do simply by setting up our donation pages and posting frequent details about the event, motivation of our participation, and how to pledge. Everyone expressed their support for her extraordinary drive. Breanna took her pledge sheet door-to-door all by herself and collected donations from the neighbors that she knows. I was proud of her for being willing to step outside her comfort zone and do that all by herself.

Then we were invited to share our story and our “why”, the story behind our support for the cause. We spoke briefly at the pre-race pasta dinner, and as scared as B was, she overcame her nerves and shared a few details about four people she knows who have their own battles with the disease, most importantly her auntie. I probably rambled for too long. I did not prepare notes as it felt like it would be more impressionable if it came directly from the heart. I had to compose myself a few times, but I managed to keep it together and share some of the biggest challenges Dana faces, as well as my desire for people to know how much impact Diabetes can have on a life. So many people have no idea what it can look like.

This was a really great lead up to the race and helped both of us to feel more connected to the larger movement.

(Click for Part 2)