Exercise 'Resolution'

I'm not a big workout junky. I love exercising, but I prefer to exercise while doing something productive rather than just walking on a treadmill. My 'resolutions' for excercise are what I have always resolved to do & have mildy taken part in, in the past. However 2010 is about really really going there & doing the things that I know will impact my health in a positive way.

On the first day of the new year, I fulfilled a wish I've had for many years - to visit a Hindu Temple! Two Hindu friends of mine invited me over, dressed me up & prepared me for many fascinated stares (I stood out like a sore thumb). We entered the temple, took off our shoes, & walked into what appeared to me as a great big, massive room with people sitting, standing, praying, talking & wandering about. It was not at all what I expected. As my eyes followed the sound of a chanting priest, I noticed that there were several smaller temples inside. We approached the temple that had a large group huddled around it & watched the priest enter the temple (forbidden to anyone else). He performed many ceremonies, mostly involving fruit offerings, and moved on. I then followed my friends around to each temple & pretty much did what they did! It was a very interesting, educational & spiritual experience. I'm very grateful for having this opportunity & I hope to go again!

Yesterday I really started getting into my physical health kick by grabbing my ice skates & convincing my boyfriend to walk to the subway station. It was -30 Celcius with the wind chill so I think we put the "craze" in "Crazy" (does that joke make sense?). I tried several times to jump a fence while my boyfriend egged me on, but to no avail (I ended up walking around the fence & faced my laughing boyfriend on the other side). The entire walk probably took about 45 minutes. Then we walked for about 10 minutes from the subway station to the ice rink. We skated for awhile (maybe 2 hours? We lost track of time!) & then did a whole lot of walking before we hopped back on the subway & headed home. That felt like a great success.

The only downer to the whole experience (and I can't believe I'm admitting this), is that someone said something really hurtful to me on that day. It definitely put a damper on it. As important as it is to not let hurtful things get to you, it can be really difficult when you're already going through a rough time. Let's put it this way - I looked like hell. I've been sicker than ever in my life & it has made me look tired. Tired tired tired & old. Seriously. No matter how much you do with beauty products, if you are under extremely stressful circumstances for a long period of time without a single break - it will start to show. Trust me. It takes a lot, but it will show. And its showing on me. I look like a different person than I did a year ago. I know I'll bounce back someday but I really feel like I've aged 10 years in just 1. So someone said something about my appearance (I was not wearing a single scrap of makeup so that's why I looked like such crap). What's so sad about it is not that I look like hell, but that some punk (& believe me I could have a field day about his appearance) made an assumption about me & put energy into being mean for the hell of it. So the moral of this story is: never, NEVER - make assumptions about people. You never know what they are going through or how they got to where they are now or why they seem the way they seem. Enough said. Sorry about the rant. I just hope that people will learn to have some compassion for others by reading this, & that people who have been judged by their appearance will know that all that matters is how you feel.

Anyway, I can only control my actions & I can say confidently that I'm moving full force into becoming a more healthy person in 2010.

If anyone wants to share their health tips or goals, please do in the comments below!

Oh and P.S. ~ A great way to excercise is to clean! Thinking of cleaning the house in that way makes it feel a lot less boring!

And P.S.S ~ Thanks Christine for the add! A big shout out to my friend Christine - we should get together again soon!