My Happy Place

A comfort zone. A place where you feel relaxed, safe, unchallenged and, well, comfortable.

This is the place I love to live in. It's cosy and warm when the chilling winds blow through your coat. It's cool and refreshing when you're suffocating in sweat. When you've been up since 4am with a day full of mumming, it's that deliciously inviting bed that you can flop into and finally ... (deep breath in ... *sigh*) ... exhale.

Yes, the comfort zone is my happy place. I love my comfort zone.

Now my traditional comfort zone is not a place where you find a lot of strenuous exercise going on. Which means ... sadly ... hanging out in my lounge of comfort is counterproductive to my goals. 

But ... what about that awesome feeling I have both during and after said strenuous exercise? (Thank you endorphins). And what about that amazing sense of achievement and satisfaction knowing I'm doing something that is bettering me (instead of that feeling of guilt that gnaws away at me when I spend too much time in aforementioned comfort zone).

Perhaps my happy place isn't really blobbing out in front of a movie on the couch like a zombie?

What if they are both good for me?

Or ... and here is the 'a-ha' moment ... maybe exercising regularly and chilling out regularly are actually two very important activities to achieving a balanced and satisfying existence! That's it ... my truly Happy Place is a place where I can get in and out of my comfort zone, and still be .... happy!

I like this blogging thing!!

...

So in addition to putting my brainwaves of genius on 'paper', each week I'm going to record an action plan that will help me achieve my goals and report on the previous weeks' plan. This is something I learned when I was trained as a facilitator in the Stanford University Chronic Disease Self-management Program (more on that later). I wont always post up the plans because they can get quite personal, but here are this weeks' so you get an idea. 

Action plan (AP): I will find out when registration opens for the 1/4 Iron Maori on Tuesday morning after the girls go down for a nap.

Exercise plan (EP): Go for a swim at Clive pools on Tuesday (no set laps as it will be my first time back in the pool for almost a year), go for a walk at the beach on Thursday morning, and do one short resistance workout using light hand weights on Friday between 9 and 12.

Me plan (MP doing something for myself): I will put moisturiser on my face and hands in the morning after I brush my teeth on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

These plans may sound a bit strange but such are the plans of the Stanford course. I'll explain in another post but basically it's got to be achievable and I know I will not be able to achieve putting moisturiser on every day so I'll aim for 4 days and anything over that is extra kudos for me!

Take that, cake!

You've heard of slow and steady wins the race, but this takes the cake. And I mean the literal cake.

Let me explain.

This time of year, whilst great for making resolutions about healthy eating etc, also brings the most challenging temptations for me. And so I've had a slow start.

For a good month after Christmas we have no less than 8 birthdays and 2 wedding anniversaries in our family. Add in the regular feasts at Christmas and New Years and it's cake city - mostly chocolate (my absolute favourite), but sometimes cheesecake, trifle, steam pudding, banoffie pie, ambrosia, etc, etc. 

Okay that's not all cake ... but it's pudding, it's yum, and eating too much of it makes you fat. Just like cake.

And so it is that I find myself making yet another chocolate cake. I'm using the Hershey's recipie that is so easy and mmmmm caaaaaaaake kinda yum. I'm only mildly ashamed to admit that I just looooove to lick the spoons, beaters, rubber scraper and bowl. 

(Raw cake mix - it brings out the extended syllables in me!)

But this time I thought about my goals (and my overindulgence in recent weeks) and decided to mix up the whole cake from start to finish without licking or sampling along the way. And because I want to pass on good habits to my kids I wasn't even going to call them in to have my spoils.

That batter was looking sooo chocolatty and delicious. Not unlike some of those rebels-without-a-cause I used to be attracted to as a teenager. But, as I learned to do then (after much trial and tribulation), I employed the nonchalant almost-scowly attitude and kept my eyes focused on the task at hand ... and it worked!

And because I was feeling so good about myself I also decided to clean up the cocoa/flour-bomb effect going on in the kitchen. (I can see the relief in my husbands eyes already.)

Now the cake is baked and almost cool enough to ice. The kitchen is semi-clean (since I finished several kids have had reheats and there's bowls strewn around the sink like half-sunk ships). I haven't had anything unhealthy to eat today ... yet. I'm still going to eat a slice later because it's birthday cake after all!

So even though I may have had a slow and steady start to this journey, I'm still on it, learning and achieving as I go. Small steps will get me there.

And the next time I'm baking a cake I can just poke my unencumbered-with-batter tongue at that empty bowl and dripping beaters, then wash that bad habit down the drain!

Starting another journey. ..

Kia ora. My name is Myra. I turned 40 last week. I have 7 kids, 4 that I gave birth to and 3 step-sons. My hubby and I have been married for 3 years-ish. We live in Waimārama – the most beautiful place on earth. I am a community volunteer, self-employed co-owner of two businesses and stay-at-home mum. My baby was born 8 weeks ago today ... which I why I am starting this blog now.

8 weeks ago I was in ridiculous pain – as all mums who give birth know – but this pain was from the post-birth stuff going on. Stiches, injections, gas, tears – it was all on and I nearly got shipped off to theatre. She (my baby) was 8 lb 5 – my smallest bub – but did the most damage. It’s not her fault!

The weeks following were the hugest struggle I’ve had ‘healing’ up, physically and emotionally! But now I’m pretty much there – a few pains here and there but today I decided to ‘get back into it’. That is, exercise! (Ha ha you thought this blog was all about having babies and stuff ;) Well it kind of is but more on that later...)

So yep – I woke up at 5:30 and fed LP (little princess), hubby got up and got brekkie for BP (big princess) then he came back to bed still revelling in the awesomeness of his epic surf sesh at the Spit in Mahia yesterday. As I was snuggling in for a snooze a niggly thought danced around the edge of my mind – and this time I felt ready to act on it.

20 minutes later I was walking on the most beautiful white-sand beach in the world (I’m biased but it’s up there) with the sun streaming on my back with a rosy hue in my cheeks. I felt empowered and strong, despite the niggle in my weak pelvis – yep I suffer from symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD – google it) during every pregnancy and the effects still haven’t quite left me. It makes me even more determined to get on this journey of mine...

The journey – that’s what this blog is about. With every footprint in the sand I felt the resurgence of a feeling ... a feeling of self-fulfilment, a sense of who I am, like I was resetting myself back to me. Who couldn’t feel something deep and satisfying in these surrounds?

And so I decided, I am going to do the Iron Maori in 2016. And ... I am going to do something for myself every week. And ... I am going to blog about it so that I can have something that regularly holds me accountable.

So here we go – that’s what I’m going to do and this is my 'how-I'm-going-to-do-it' blog :)