The journey to the goal...

 

I keep telling myself it's not a race. It's a journey step by step to get in the best possible physical condition I can be to reach my goal of going to Nepal and completing the EBC Trek. Those steps are at times baby steps, some weeks I even step backwards as my old joints don't want to cooperate. This week though the steps have been moving forward in a very positive way. This morning was another great workout with minimal pain in my knee on the stair stepper. My steps have been increasing bit by bit this week. I'm trying not to push the limits because that is when I can get forced to step back. 

Everyday I get closer to my dreams and goals. I knew when I started out it would be a long journey. I know where I currently am, I know where I need to end up. I've a plan to get there. Some days it is a struggle. The past few though I have enjoyed. Waking up really early has been surprisingly good as I don't feel pressure to rush through my workout. It will also give me the time to add additional steps and exercises to my current schedule. For now and until I retire I will probably limit my workouts to what I can do at home or on the hiking trail. I do think that once I retire and especially over the summer months I will join a local gym to get on the treadmill, do some weight training and maybe go swimming. That is still a ways off so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.  

I look forward to getting up each morning now and doing my exercise routine. Yoga, Wim Hoff breathing and stair stepper. Just 16 hours until my workout tomorrow!

Birdseye view

 Just as I was getting concerned about my knee pain things seemed to have turned a bit. My workouts on the stair stepper have really improved this week and my steps numbers have increased with little to no pain. Yippee! I haven't taken a break from any of my workouts now for I think two weeks. I know I did have a few days there though that I did very little on the stair stepper as the pain in my left knee was a bit unbearable. But slow and steady with small increases seems to be paying off. I am really enjoying my yoga workouts have added an occasional pre-bed routine. My confidence has soared! 

The morning workouts have me getting up earlier and earlier. Part of this is I just don't sleep well (insomnia since I was a kid) and I often find myself awake before 5:00 am. I usually would lay in bed quietly and stay relaxed until nearly time for the alarm. But now with the workouts and needing to get outside and do some early morning watering in the garden I seem to be needing to get up before 5:30 a.m. so I can still get out the door and off to work on time. I may have to look at going to bed slightly earlier than I have been, but I just feel so old going to sleep before 9:30 pm. While I do wish I could sleep in later, I am a morning person and I enjoy the peacefulness of those early hours. In the evening I am just always impatient for the sun to set, for the evening to quiet down so I can go climb into my bed and read for a bit before falling asleep. 

On the EBC trek the hikes start early in the morning and everyone calls it a night and heads off to bed pretty early at night. This will be perfect for me. I do enjoy being out in the early morning and listening to nature wake up. At home the first sounds I hear are the Carolina Wrens calling out as the sun begins to rise. They are soon joined by many of the other birds that call my garden home. By the time I leave for work they are already visiting the feeders and bird bath. I could sit and watch them for hours. 

Oh to be a bird to see the world from above....

Life sucks then you die....

 Life sucks, then you die. Four years ago I honestly felt this way about my life. My  heart had been broken one too many times. I was picking up the pieces from shattered dreams and what I had thought my life was and was going to be. I did heal, ( well still healing a bit). But I sometimes do struggle with where my life is currently to what I had thought it would be. I then only have to remind myself that in so many ways it is so much better. 

My life now can sometimes be a bit lonely. It isn't the loneliness that bothers me, but the boredom. Once again I am going to complain about the Texas summer weather. We are experiencing another dangerous heat wave for the next ten days with temperatures over 103 and heat indexes up to 110+. Yesterday just opening the back door felt like a blast from a furnace. The mornings aren't even cool with temperatures at 6 am in the low 80's. So I hibernate. I can't just pack up and go to a cooler climate for a week as I have to work. Travel takes money. Oh I save and invest for nice trips, but just to do a casual short break hits my budget pretty hard. 

Last night though when I started to feel down, I burst out and said LIFE SUCKS BUT THEN YOU.... make a goal that excites you and gives you something to work towards and look forward to! So I stop and remind myself  that even though I may get bored in that moment I have some amazing adventures to look forward to. I should sit and enjoy the quiet for the moment that it is and know that the days will pass, the weather will change, retirement will come and adventures will begin!

Living a life well lived...

 Several times in recent weeks I have randomly picked a movie or TV series to watch that had a very inspiring message for me. Maybe it's just because where I am in my life that I pick up on these messages or that I am being drawn to shows to would be sharing this message.  Yesterday I watched a British movie - Living.  The story was about an elderly man that had lived a rather ordinary (some would say boring) life. He is diagnosed with terminal cancer and realizes he never really lived. His life was missing joy. He is drawn to a former co-worker (a much younger women) because of her happy disposition and her gusto for life. They build a friendship. He is inspired when he returns to work to take on a project that had kept getting pushed off onto other people or just delayed as it wasn't seen as important. He realized though that to a few people it was. So he took it on and got it approved and constructed. It was just a small playground to be built where a bombed out building had stood but was now polluted with sewage waste and trash. It was a simple story but one that rang true with my goals. The lead told a story about when he was a child and would be out on the playground, he would just be there waiting to be called in for dinner. Most of the kids were playing games and having fun and were disappointed to be called in for dinner whereas he waiting impatiently to be called in. As he said he was just there. That was how he had lived his life. It was only when faced with  he imminent death that he felt driven to do something that had meaning and would leave a positive impact. 

My death is not imminent well as least as far as I know it isn't. I also don't think I have led a boring life that was not impactful or inspiring to others. But I also know I don't want to sit down and die. Unless I were to be diagnosed with a terminal illness, death can really come quite unexpectedly. I feel like I need to continue living until that moment. To live a life that inspires, that brings positive change to the lives of others. To live a life of adventure. To have lived this life. That is what I want. I hope I get that chance. 

Living was based in the Japanese film Ikuru

Stepping it up

 My workouts haven't gone as well as I'd like this week. I've pushed myself during my yoga workouts to really stretch the muscles. My workouts are usually before 6:00 am and by lunchtime at 1:00 pm I start to stiffen up and find myself walking like an old lady when I head off to lunch. My Wim Hoff breathing is going well and I am now easily holding my breath for 90 seconds. The whole breathing exercise routine seems to go much more quickly now as it has become much easier. My left knee is still causing a bit of an issue with the stair stepper, but it isn't as bad as it was a few weeks back. I did 50 complete steps (100 on a staircase) everyday. I've still a long way to go to get to my target of 300 pain free steps. My legs also tired out much quicker this week, I was feeling the burn by 35 steps. I'm not sure why this is because last weekend I easily did 100 in one workout. I just need to learn patience and know that slow and steady will win the race. I've really only been doing these workouts for five weeks, and I did struggle with a lot more knee pain than I currently am. So slow improvements. I'll need to remember to look back at this post next month and see where I am at then. 

Here is the link to my yoga workout, it's an easy series that can be completed in less than 20 minutes so is perfect for an early morning workout before getting ready to go to work.

https://youtu.be/uH2N2gmjhl0

I follow it with the quick Wim Hoff breathing series;

https://youtu.be/uH2N2gmjhl0

I then hop onto my stair stepper for as long as I can. 

I'm looking forward to cooler weather and getting out on the trails to hike! 

What to Collect - part 2

 

Continuing on from yesterdays post I just wanted to continue on that topic now that I am in a much better and more mindful place. 

Life is to be experienced. Possessions add little to nothing to ones overall life. It is the experiences that we recall. They are the stories we tell. They are what inspire others. As I have written before I want to inspire others to go do and see what they feel is impossible. Set the goals and pursue them. do your best. I am doing my best to reach the goal of trekking the EBC and hopefully the additional Goyko Ri trek in 2026. I am basically going from couch potato to mega hiker in three years. I want to reach base camp, hike up Kalapathar and Goyko Ri to see four of the world's 14 peaks that reach above 8,000 m! They are: Mount Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu. 

I know I don't write much about my hope to do some volunteer work while I am in Nepal. It was what initially led me to wanting to travel there. It was only after looking at things to do while there that I stumbled across the EBC trek and knew that I have to do that. I haven't yet decided what kind of volunteer work I will do, but will either be teaching English, or working with disadvantaged women. There are some construction projects that I would currently be able to do (I love DIY/construction) but I am aware that it is getting a bit more difficult to do and in three years it could be a bit more than I would want to commit to. I think working with disadvantaged women would be a meaningful way to give my time and have a positive impact on someone's life. 

I am aware that I am getting older, I am Senior Citizen old. I don't feel it. I have to regularly remind myself of it. I just have to keep feeling as good (if not better) for the next three years. I can do this. 

I CAN DO THIS!

What to collect...

 Doubts have been plaguing me lately. I've set such a big goal for almost a too distant future. I know I need the three years I've set to prepare but it allows so much time for something to go wrong. I think that is what is worrisome for me. I spend every morning doing my workout, I pray for a nice cool morning on the weekend to go hiking. I am planning hiking trips in the next few years to train for this, but then what if it all just falls apart? I tell myself though that if nothing else I am getting stronger and in much better shape than I was, which is a good thing. I suppose I would feel better about this and more confident if I could get out now and go hiking. Freaking Texas summers! I hate the heat and humidity. I wanted so badly to get out and do things this past weekend but with heat indexes over 100f, I just can't do it. I was getting so depressed being cooped up inside. 

I did do some thinking though about my finances and what and how I would prefer to spend my money. Oh I could re-do my bathroom, take my landscaping up a few notches, get a new sofa. But those are just things, what do they add to my life? Life is about experiences, not things. It is the experiences that we recall much more vividly and emotionally than the things we have. Oh I do have some things that make me smile. I am still happy ten years later that I did remodel my kitchen, but the remodel added to the joy of cooking and dining with my family that I did not get in the old small outdated one. So that added to the experience meal prep and eating.

I started this journey because I want to experience the world and see things I have only dreamed of. I need to stay focused on that. 

Life is lived by experiencing the world, not possessing it.