Tag Archives: healthy living

Hitting my targets

In the summer of 2016 I took up archery. It was a goal of mine for many years, but it took going through 6 months of chronic fatigue to convince myself to actually follow through. Before getting a diagnosis and path back to being healthy I had many, “Is this the rest of my life?” depressing thoughts, on exhausted days of constant tiredness. Recovering from this, I realized that if I didn’t start archery then, I probably wouldn’t ever start.

Fast forward to 2018 when my job intensified and I dropped archery, but at the start of 2019, started myself on a health kick. Now, for 2021, part of my healthy living goals includes 100 days of archery, (that’s an average of 1.9 days/week over the year). And today I shot my 11th day in the first 24 days of the year, so I’m well on my way.

Also today, I shot my personal best of 270, a goal I first made 2 weeks ago.

A 300, or ten rounds of 3 arrows with a maximum score of 10 per arrow, would would be a perfect score. So now I have set a new goal of 275, with no score of 7 or lower on any arrow. Next after that will be a 280 with no score of 8 or lower. At that point I’m looking at only hitting the yellow circle of a Vegas target every time. (For scale, the yellow 9-ring is about 3 inches or less than 7¾cm diameter, and the tiny X-ring inside the 10 is about the size of a penny.)

The challenge now is that each goal is incrementally decreasing the range of error, while also being exponentially harder to do! Today was the first day that I scored 2 rounds in one day, and my first score was a lousy 250, with three 7’s and one complete miss (outside the blue 6-ring). I’m not consistent yet at 270 and while I might hit a lucky 275 soon, it could be weeks or months before I’m consistently hitting all shots inside the 8-ring.

As I get better, individual improvements will take longer and longer. Three things are helping me right now.

  1. Improvements are still coming quickly, so I’m seeing rewarding results.
  2. I have some good coaching from someone significantly better than me.
  3. I’m exceeding my expectations around how often I’m practicing.

So, being keenly aware that things will get harder; that it will be more and more challenging to hit my targets, I am going to take the time and celebrate when I hit my goals.

Today I shot a 270!

Keeping Promises

Here is a wonderful and inspiring post by Dwight Carter, A Promise to Myself, For Myself.

Dwight decided on January 18, 2020 that he would do a workout every day for the next year, and he has now followed through on that commitment! In his post, Dwight says,

“I listened to a TEDx Talk called Winning the Mental Battle of Physical Fitness and Obesityby Dr. Ogie Shaw, and it changed my perspective on working out. One statement he made that resonated with me is, “It’s easier to work out every day than it is three days a week. Three days a week gives you too many decisions… If you are negotiating about which days to work out, it’s over.” That made sense to me. So, it was at the point that I promised myself that I was going to work out every day.”

I’ll be listening to Dr. Shaw’s TedTalk this morning on my exercise bike. Dwight goes on to share some tips that remind me a bit of ‘My healthy living goals year-end reflection, with 5 key tips‘. Those tips have allowed me to maintain my healthy living goals for another year, and I’m on track again this year.

Still, while I’ve blogged every day, and did 288 workouts last year, Dwight worked out every single day for a year. That’s impressive! Reading his post has inspired me. I realize that I’ve been slacking a bit. I’ve been waking up at inconsistent times, sometimes having to push my workout or daily meditation into the evening because the morning is too rushed. I’ve been less disciplined with my schedule.

While my goal is at least 288 workouts again this year, I’m realizing that I can do better by recommitting to my daily routine. I’m not changing my goal to daily, I already commit to daily meditation and blogging, but I’m committing to keeping my routine ‘tight’. I’m also going to stretch on my non workout days.

It’s absolutely inspiring to watch others meet their healthy living goals. I feel that Dwight has provided me with a boost at a time when, although I haven’t slacked off physically, I was beginning to slack off mentally. He has reminded me that a dedicated daily routine is what got me to meet my healthy living goals. This morning I woke up early, and I’m about to start my meditation at the time when I have been just starting to blog. Today I’ve rekindled the excitement about my routine. Thank you Dwight!

Going for walks

The best part of this whole pandemic has been that I have been outside on walks far more that I have in years. Just got back from the usual 5k walk I take with my wife, and we also did a masked walk with a couple, who are close friends, last night. There is something cathartic about walking and talking. Equally so, walking alone and thinking, or even listening to music, or a podcast or an audio book. I don’t know why walks are so enjoyable, but they make me feel great.

Get outside. Go for a walk. So what if it’s dark, take a flashlight or a bike light with you. So what if it’s raining or snowing, wear appropriately dry/warm clothing. So what if you don’t have someone’s go with, walk alone. Whatever the path you may be on, part of it can be walked.

Giving myself a break

Yesterday after school I had a long conversation with a friend, and he shared some feedback I really needed to hear. I’ve been on a healthy living journey for a couple years now, and things have been going well. But as we opened up to each other about how things are going, I mentioned to him that there is a goal that I’m just not moving forward with. I told him that despite 2 years of things being positive, I can’t seem to make a shift with this goal.

That’s when he told me to give myself a break.

He reminded me that although I’ve been improving my health, I have not been on a fully positive journey for two years. He remained me that it wasn’t until February, just under a year ago, that I was running 3 schools, working ridiculous hours, and feeling overwhelmed. He reminded me that only a few weeks after that we were on lockdown for a global pandemic we are still dealing with.

He acknowledged that I’m in a good place, meeting many of my goals and that even now work is extremely busy. And he told me that he has mentioned me to his partner, telling her that I’m someone that is really doing well right now. And he told me that he knows many others not doing nearly as well right now.

I needed to hear this.

I can’t beat myself up for not doing more right now. I need to give myself a break.

Blog comments on social media

This morning I read a comment Aaron shared here on my Daily-Ink, and then commented back on a link he shared.


Then I went to Facebook and commented on a post about a friend, George, who shared his healthy living before/now photos showing his progress. He started by saying,

“For the last year, I have been adding a “progress check” to my Instagram stories for my workouts. I have been teased about it, but It was a way for me to see a difference over time when it is hard to notice the impact of your work on a daily basis. Snapshots over time have given me a better idea of my progress.”

My response:

George, this is fantastic! I love seeing progress photos like this. What’s great is that you aren’t just dropping weight, you are creating a healthy lifestyle. As for sharing the photos… GO FOR IT!

Kelly, Jonathan, and I post workouts on Twitter and cheer each other on. I’m sure some people roll their eyes, but I firmly believe that being public pushes us when we need that push. There is both incentive and accountability to being public about our healthy living goals. You look awesome, and you will look awesome a year from now rather than yo-yo-ing… so share away!

💪😃👍

I know that my Healthy Living Goals have been positively impacted by my being open and sharing them publicly on not just my blog, but also on social media.

What I also notice is that I used to get tons of comments on my blog, and now they are all over the place. My blog gets shared to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn automatically when the post is published, and people will comment and respond on those platforms rather than on my blog. These comments live at a given moment, they don’t live on my blog, connected to my post, like Aaron’s comment(s) do.

Social media timelines scroll past for brief moments in time. You could argue that so do blog posts.. especially when they come daily, but I like the idea that these posts share easily searchable and longer living moments in time. And, if and when I go back to them, I like the idea that the comments are there with the post and not lost on my social media timeline, never to be connected to the post again.

But social media rules the day. I’d probably get 1/10 the readership of my blog if I didn’t post it on social media, and social media is designed to keep you on the platform… to keep you engaged and scrolling, and interacting on the site. I don’t think that will change any time soon.

There have been a couple instances where a blog comment on social media added enough value to the conversation or idea shared in my post that it inspired me to quote that comment myself, in the blog comments. However, it wouldn’t be sustainable for me to try to do that all the time. I don’t really have a solution, I think it’s just a matter of accepting that people will choose to comment on social media sites, and blogs are not as social (anymore).

Waking before my alarm

I get up an hour or more before my wife. She’s a light sleeper and even set at its quietest, my alarm will often wake her up. So every night I tell myself to wake up before my alarm. Probably 3 out of 5 weekdays I do. Most times it’s within 20 minutes of it going off, but some days, like today, it was almost 45 minutes early.

When I wake up way too early, I always have to juggle the decision of what to do. If I’m over an hour early, the choice is simple, I get up and go down to the couch. There I can sleep for another hour and let my alarm wake me. If it’s 20 minutes or less, I just get up. But those in-between days like today are tough to decide what to do?

If I head to the couch with only 40 minutes to spare, I will re-wake up after my couch nap feeling like I need more sleep. If I just wake up, I feel like my sleep was too short. A day like today means that I would have slept for less than 6 hours. But if I go back to sleep in my bed, there’s a good chance that I won’t wake up again before my alarm, and I know I’ll wake my wife up unnecessarily.

That window of waking up 25 to 55 minutes too early is a window that’s hard to deal with. Today I closed my eyes and ended up checking the time twice before getting out of bed 12 minutes before my 5:15am alarm. I came downstairs and set a timer to go off in 12 minutes, then started my 10 minute, timed meditation. I sometimes fall back asleep after my meditation, when I get up before my alarm.

These morning rituals that I have, for when I wake up before my alarm, have been developed over time. Sometimes the routine is natural, sometimes it’s a struggle. Part of the struggle is that I’m still half asleep when I’m making the decision of what to do. Sometimes I tell myself to get up, or to go downstairs, and I don’t. This could lead to my alarm going off, or to me half-waking up several more times and then waking up tired.

As I finish this, I hear my wife is up in the bedroom above. She has been getting up earlier than normal to work out. That’s what I’m headed to do too. Meditation, writing, 20 minutes cardio listening to an audio book, light stretching, and one or two sets of weights. By the time I head to the shower, I feel that I’ve already had a good day. It helps when I can start off getting up 20 minutes or less before my alarm.

Starting reference point

Shot some arrows again today. I’ve been shooting at very close range, and working on my release. Then I decided to go back to 18 meters and shoot a round: 10 ends of 3 arrows. The maximum score is 300. I haven’t shot a round in over a year and a half and my goal today was to get at least a 240. I shot a 252, on targets that go as low as a 6 ring, with only one of my 30 arrows not scoring.

(Some photo/scoring details: The cover photo with 3 bullseyes was taken at very close range, about 10m. The score card details: X is a bullseye and counts as 10. M is a miss. Scoring order is not by arrow order, but highest score first.)

My mentor/coach has advised me to make notes beyond my score and here they are:

I’ve started a photo album on my phone. I think that I want my notes to be pen on paper rather than digital, then I’ll take a photo of them and add them to my album after my score, or on the same page as my score. This may change over time.

What I’m most happy about, besides my initial goal of getting at least a score of 140 and getting a 152, is the 10,9,9 recovery after shooting a 8, 7, Miss. One of my goals with archery is to not let my previous shot affect my next shot. This is my favourite part about the sport… it’s unforgiving and doesn’t allow me to wallow and be upset, and still shoot well. I can’t stay ‘in my head’, and beat myself up, and shoot well.

So now I have a starting reference point for shooting a round at 18 meters. My next goal will be a 270, but I’m not putting a timeline on that target until I shoot and score a few more times. It would be arbitrary to set a timeline without knowing what my progression will be like. I could hit a lucky 270 in 2 weeks, or I could be stuck below 265 for the rest of the year. I have no idea where I’ll be or how hard this will be until I shoot and score a few more times.

It’s still early in the year, and enthusiasm is high, but I think I’ll hit my goal of 100 days of archery this year, and it will be exciting to see how much I can improve over this year.

My 2021 #OneWord is Thrive

Last year I chose Resilience as my #OneWord 2020. At the end of this post I said, “Resilience allows us to be strong, flexible, and engaged in a society that is the kind of society we want to live and thrive in.”

In October I re-shared the post adding, “Right now it seems like I chose the right #OneWord for 2020: Resilience. But as you read my last post of 2019, written before we learned about the impending pandemic, remember something… We are social beings and we are not incredibly resilient on our own. We need a community, we need friendship and love, we need each other.

Relationships, be they with family, friends, co-workers, student/teacher, and even pets, build our resilience, and our ability to not just cope, but to thrive.

Let’s support one another and show our resilience together!”

Reflecting on this now, I realize that resilience is a word like endure: We want to be able to do it, but we don’t want to have to do so more than necessary. I want to be resilient, I don’t want to be constantly needing to show you how resilient I am. I don’t want to continually demonstrate my resilience… like I and many others have had to do as the world deals with this pandemic. So this year I want my #OneWord to be something I actually want to do, and to show.

Thrive!

Thrive is the word I have chosen for 2021. I want to feel like I’m thriving with my healthy living goals. I want to thrive at work and watch our students thrive too. I want my wife and daughters to thrive and feel like their work and school experiences are not just about coping, or showing resilience, but about feeling successful and accomplished.

I know the pandemic is far from over, and that we must continue to be diligent, careful, and safe going forward. That doesn’t mean that we can’t also make the most of things and live our best lives. That doesn’t mean that we can’t thrive. This is a power word, filled with the promise of doing well, no matter our consequences. There are circumstances and things we must deal with that are be beyond our personal control, and there are things we have control over and that we can do to make the most of our circumstances.

May 2021 be a year where you stay healthy, and positive, and find ways to truly THRIVE!

A step in the right direction

I used to hate the idea of new year’s resolutions. So much hype built into large and often unrealistic goals. But my healthy living goals have changed that. Today, I hit all my targets (literally with my archery goal as well as figuratively). And so I added my stickers to my chart, and am heading into my hot tub after writing this.

What matters though, as I have learned, is that I maintain my weekly goals when I’m busy at work. It’s easy to take a step in the right direction on the first day of the year, while on holiday. But this doesn’t prepare me for the year ahead like the first week back at school.

That doesn’t take anything away from my day, from the first day of 2021… it does remind me that habits are made when it’s hard to maintain habits, rather than when it’s easy. It reminds me that every step in the right direction is a good step to take.

I’ve made some great strides in meeting my healthy living goals in the past two years, and I believe I’ll do the same this year. It’s easier when I create goals that are actually attainable, and that make me feel better about myself. It’s also easier because I’ve created the time and space in my home schedule to meet my targets. The challenge isn’t doing what needs to be done, the challenge is consistently making time, and getting started. Consistently.

Healthy living goals, past and future

I shared my health living goals and results, and some helpful tips last year. And I think they are worth sharing again:

My healthy living goals year-end reflection, with 5 key tips.

Here is my calendar chart for 2020:

The one stat worth noting: Workouts

Last year: 63% (57% would have been an average of 4-days a week. I only did less than 4 days a week 3 times during the year.)

This year: 78.7% (288/366days or an average of 5.5 days a week. I only did less the 4 days twice and one of those was the week after I broke my patella.)

I barely missed mediation or a day of reading/writing. A difference of note to last year, I listened to 33 books in 2020. That’s up from 26 last year and included a lot more fiction than in previous years.

I was also consistent with intermittent fasting until I stopped doing this in October. I was dropping weight that I didn’t want to lose at that point. While at some point I might return to this form of time restricted eating, I think I’ve ingrained the habit of not snacking after dinner, but my early morning workouts leave me too hungry to do this when my last meal is usually done by 6:30pm. I’m over 25lbs lighter than I was 3 years ago and actually want to add some muscle mass this year.

Overall, I have to say that this has been a healthy year. Besides my accident, breaking my knee, I had a shoulder injury that was slow to recover, and my (chronic) back issues flared up only once for about a week. Besides that, I’d easily say that I’m the fittest I’ve been in 25+ years.

So where to now? Here’s my plan with my calendar and stickers for 2021:

Red: Exercise (continued) I know the visual of gaps in workouts pushes me. I will try to match this year’s average.

Blue: Meditation (continued +) I plan to continue to give myself a sticker for doing a guided meditation in the morning. But I also plan to give myself a second sticker if I can do a minimum of 10 minutes of unguided meditation sometime later in the day. I think for me to progress in my meditation I have to dedicate more time to staying focussed on my breath and commit to putting more hours into this.

Yellow: Writing. I don’t need to track reading anymore. I read (listen) during cardio and squeeze in more reading whenever I am doing menial tasks or driving alone. But I want to continue to advance my writing. So, one sticker for my Daily Ink blog post, and a second sticker when I do any writing beyond that. Let’s see if my sticker chart can inspire me to do more than just a daily post. At least to start, much of what I write beyond these posts may not be immediately public – so tracking with a 2nd sticker will keep me honest about how much of this I actually do).

Green: Archery. Goodbye intermittent fasting, hello hobby! After a year-and-a-half hiatus, I started shooting again and I’m loving it. It helps that I have a (socially distanced) friend coaching me a bit, and I’m seeing great results. To me this is a form of meditation. It’s also something that I started then watched get pushed asides due to being busy and not prioritizing. If I can get 100 days of shooting in next year, that would be amazing!

So while there are many reasons to throw 2020 the middle finger, I think that my healthy living sticker chart is not one of them. I know that without keeping myself honest with this system, 2020 could have been an abysmal year for my physical and mental well-being… but this charting and commitment to myself was a shining light in what was otherwise a very dark year. I hope to see equal success in 2021!