My 3Ms - Getting back on Track

Mind Matters

So the last few weeks have been really rough; stressful and frustrating.

The details (without putting too fine a point on it) involve 6 miserable days of Sacramento County Fair (my daughter shows boar goats for 4-H) which pushed my husband and me to the point of never returning unless they have a change in fair management. The other events are happy ones albeit still extremely taxing on my psyche: my son’s 18^th birthday, his graduation from High School and pending move (1.5 hours away) for college; my daughter’s promotion from 8^th grade; and my 23^rd wedding anniversary. Not to mention a Cancun, Mexico vacation coming up in 3 weeks.

“Living” at fair for 6 days was tedious and taxing my ability to stay on track nutritionally. It was good for the first 3-4 days I packed food and water into the fair, but then I slowly backslid a bit and ate “fair food” the last 2 days there. I just got lazy and bored and decided that the experience was lacking without some “fair food.” It was definitely due to the desire to eat for emotional effect. I also neglected to do my eccentric exercise and yoga for the week.

I learned something from the experience though here are few important points that I recognized:

A.    I do not feel guilty about eating a corn dog, hamburger, a soda, and gelato – I celebrate the fact that I stayed 70%+ on track.

B.     I do not feel guilty about not doing my eccentric exercises I will get to them this week, besides I was much more active than usual while at fair (lots of walking and wrangling goats!) instead of work driving a desk.

C.     At the very least I wish had made more of an effort to fit my yoga – or at least some meditation – in during fair week.

The past weeks experiences helped me recognize what my priorities should be regarding my health. My 3-Ms:

1)      MIND…Be “Mind”ful – My psyche’s well-being must be my #1 priority over everything else. I need to carve out at least 10 minutes of time for yoga, meditation, or a leisurely walk every single day. This time to repair and recuperate my spirit is vital and the key to all else that follows.

2)      MUNCH…Eat for Life – continuing to eat whole foods while avoiding starches, sugars and processed foods as much as I possibly can (80-90% of the time). Aim for progress not perfection.

3)      MOVE…Exercise Deliberately & with Delight – exercise eccentrically at least once a week and be active as often as possible (take walks, bicycle rides, garden, dance, swim, etc).

As long as I remember my 3Ms the importance of Mind, Munch & Move I can relax and know that if I need to temporarily forego any of these in light of busy time in my life I can do so without guilt as long as I forego MOVE first, than MUNCH if necessary. Should MIND ever become railroaded by busyness, though, it is time to reevaluate and resume.