Day 29- Eliminate Boredom

Boredom results from habitual, mind-numbing behaviors, and routines. Boredom also leads to eating. Remember we are trying to cut down on that? Find something to be passionate about.

Learn something new: Lifelong learners are deeply curious, and you can aspire to this habit, too. What is it you've always longed to do but didn't have time for? Fly an airplane? Skydive? Take art lessons? Learn a new language? Check with you local community college and see what they have to offer.

Your brain responds to challenges. Studies show that continued learning helps to ward of dementia and Alzheimer's. So, get off your duff and learn something new.

Take a cooking class: Learn to cook better meals for you and your family. It's one of the most satisfying activities in life.

Travel: Break out of your routine. Take a different route to work. Head out for hiking or biking in an area you've never seen before. Choose a cultural tour in a city you've never been to. Leave the tourist attractions behind and discover something new. Take an  eco-trip to learn about frogs in the Costa Rican rainforest.

Make time for pleasure: We all need "me" time. Make a ritual out or taking a candelit bath. Schedule a regular massage. Go to the park every Sunday morning so you can take off your shoes and walk in the grass. Dance in the rain.

Take Ghandi's advice: "Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow."

Become an artist: You can paint, learn to sculpt, write, or landscape by taking classes. How about photography?

Clear Out the Junk: transform your living space by decluttering. (I have personal issues with that.)
Here are some suggestions:
1) Give away all those diet books that failed you.
2) Donate movies and CD's to the library or a women's shelter. Or the local nursing home.
3) Take old clothes and kitchen utensils to your local community shop--Good Will, St. Vincent's, etc.
4) Pack up old photographs and mementos and send them to your children or nieces and nephews--new caretakers of the history.
5) Let go of people in your life who add nothing but drama, stress, or misery to it.
6) Stop picking at old wounds and endlessly rehashing injustices. Forgive everyone in your past who has ever wronged you.
7) Free yourself from the endless loop in which you're always the "innocent victim" of someone else's thoughtlessness.
8) Decide you'll never again utter the words, "I can't". I refused to let my students use that phrase in school. They could tell me they didn't understand, or it was difficult, or even I'm confused. But, NEVER "I can't."
9) Clean the basement, attic and/or garage. Tool shed if it needs it.
10) Step away from relationships that no longer support you.
11) Stop listening to the tape in your head that defeats you. Change your actions into something positive.
12) Catch yourself when you complain about problems and see if you can become the solution.
13) Admit when you've made poor choices, apologize if need be, and move on.

Share the Love

Overcome your limitations. You blood sugars, blood pressures, should be better. You should feel better. Now it's time to notice there is a big world out there that needs some TLC.

Here's how you can make a difference:

• Children with no shoes.
• Adults who can't read.
• The elderly stuck in nursing homes with no one to talk to. 
• Veterans whose psyches and bodies are shattered.
• Parents who can't provide a meal for their families.
• Babies with no parents to care for them.
• Women, children, and pets who've been abandoned.
• Even members of your own family who feel forgotten. 

You're not the same person who started this 29 days ago. You're different--and not just your health. You have started paying attention to life. You've chosen a healing path. What you have done is created your own miracle.

I personally learned to glass fuse this year. It's new and exciting. I have tons of hobbies. I crochet. Just ask anyone who knows me. I scrapbook. I can embroider and sew. As many know I write. That's my passion.
This has been a journey for me. I will fall off and have to get back on. I've not yet added bread back into my  diet. I have increased the amount of vegetables I eat and I'm eating fresh as often as I can.

I don't get in three meals and a snack. Usually two meals with a snack in between. I'm a work in progress. I'm not getting enough exercise. I spend too much time working at my computer. My mind goes in a million directions at once and it makes it hard for me to function at times. I am not off my meds, yet. I monitor my blood sugar every morning and at times when I feel off. I also monitor my blood pressure. Both readings are coming down nicely. As I get this all worked out for me, I know I will lose the weight I need to and the meds I so dislike.

TTFN