Sunday, October 17, 2010

Attacking my inner slug on its home turf

Dat alarm not 4 me  Must be wrong number

[Note: inner slug is not nearly that cute. Plus, it can spell.]

One thing the week of Ornish quotes taught me was that I need to find a way to change my reaction to stress and frustration.

Once damn foot stops hurting, I want to go back to bike riding. (Yes, just as the winter is coming on: rain, darkness, all that good stuff.) The best part about commuting to work on a bicycle is that you can get all your rage, angst, aggression worked out of your body before you even get home. Then there's no urge to eat bad food, drink bad liquids, or grind your teeth.

The challenge here is that to commute by bicycle I am going to have to get up early and come into work early. So long as I can get on the road by 4:30, commuting by bike should be fine. What I really want to avoid is the 5 o'clock drivers, cause they're a cranky and inattentive bunch. (Even in the Portland suburbs, where bike riders are really not uncommon at all.)

To leave work by 4:30, I will need to get in to work early.

Goal for the week: To Get Up Early Every Morning and Get Out Of The House by... oh, let's say 7:30. To me, that's hella early, so it's a good challenge.

That's one thing I can start on now, even while damn foot is still cranky. It's a three-pronged approach:
- I have to wanna be disciplined about going to bed at a reasonable hour. Surfing the internet is a luxury, not a necessity. Shut down the computer by 8 p.m. every night.
- I have to wanna do the evening yoga session every night. It really helps me unwind.
- I have to wanna un-friend Mr. Snooze button. It's over between us, S.

Done. Well, except for shutting the computer down by 8. Need to work on that.

Exercise du jour: 30 minutes on the elliptical.
Done!

6 comments:

Lee said...

Your Ornish quotes have been inspiring. Do you have a specific book of his to recommend?

The Merry said...

The quotes are all from "Eat More, Weigh Less." This is the only book of his that I've read, apart from a book of recipes. This one also has lots of recipes and nutritional information, but I found the most helpful section to be the ones that deal with behavior.

Anonymous said...

I've been loving the Ornish quotes too and put his book on my Kindle "wish list" -- I've found it's waaaay too easy to spend money on ebooks. Trying to cut back.

One little suggestion, if I may? On your list of three prongs, change "I have to" to "I want to." This is some advice my mom gave me and it seems like such a small thing, but I've found it does make a difference. Especially if it's done to a list I've put in writing rather than the one in my head.

And yeah, it's advice I'd kind of forgotten about. Off to re-write my list...

mothrix: helpful for those pesky moth infestations

messymimi said...

Have you ever seen the tips on how to become an early riser?
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/

Good work on the elliptical.

The Merry said...

I hadn't seen that before --thanks, MessyM! There were some tips on Cranky Fitness about how to become an early riser, but the only one I remember was get a dog with a weak bladder.

Lee said...

Thanks, Merry. I'll be checking that book out.