Half The Year Is Behind Us, Any Fitness Related Observations?

The best summing up of your persona on date.
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Best wishes

 

@Laks09,

First thing first. Welcome to the nomination committee.

I am so happy to see that you have posted a thread reviewing half of 2021 in your life.

In my life too many things were going on such as a) intense effort to reduce weight, b) getting everyone vaccinated at home, c) in absentia completing the acquisition of land and constructing a house in Chennai, d) reinventing meditation, e) handling two knee surgeries of my wife, f) restarting my Hospice volunteering, g) intensifying the moral teachings to the teen children, and h) coping with a tough market in the business, to name a few.

a) Weight reduction is working out very well with increase in exercise, walk and diet. I am no where near my target goal but I am happy that I have achieved 33.3% of the total target. I know that the balance is the hardest but I will continue my effort to get to my milestone.

b) My mother-in-law who is 80 years old and my son who is 32 years old are the hardest to convince towards vaccination. Luckily none of my family members had any reaction from the Pfizer vaccines.

c) We planned a trip to India in May which we ended up cancelling. Now, we don't know when we can plan again in the absence of clear direction. We bought a land last year through Power of attorney given to a lawyer but now the architect is designing the house. Approval, finalizing the contractor, milestone payments, etc. needs to be done now remotely. I am also waiting for a huge tax refund in India which was deducted at source from the proceeds paid to me from sale of my parents' property. This is affecting the cash flow. I need to build this house before March 2022 to avoid capital gains tax. But I have learned to keep calm and let everything play out on its own.

d) Thanks to @Gauri03, I have restarted my meditation effort and it is really refreshing. I discontinued meditation 8 years due to some fear and now I am able to overcome it and enjoy the benefits of meditation.

e) The surgeries are over and my wife is recovering well even though she is not completely back to normal walking. At least I know that she is on the road to recovery. Fortunately, we had a great surgeon who performed her surgery in a good hospital which was careful in testing every patient before the surgery for COVID.

f) 2020 was a bad year for volunteering. The Hospice decided to suspend all volunteering due to COVID. After vaccination started in full swing, they slowly are inviting all the volunteers back into action. I started early April and enjoying working every Friday evening at their care center.

g) Besides contributing to the local kids charcter development, I am now playing a major role in national level creating a lot of lesson plans for teaching morals to the teen children. I enjoy doing this.

h) I have learned the lesson of how important it is to save money for such situations. I am exploring the market with same intensity I had for many years but now, I learned to do it without any agitation in my mind.

 

Dear @Viswamitra
I am sorry to note that your spouse had to undergo surgery presumably for knee joint pain. You have stated that she is on road to recovery and would be able to walk normally in due course of time.
Note is very informative . Thanks and Regards.

 

Awesome post Laks! Must read!Always amazed at how mature minded and grounded you are..

point no 5 resonates with me..

love no 7 too

 

Great post @Laks09! So nice to see your motivation to keep moving!

I challenged myself this year (starting from last year) to do things that I have been wanting to do. I am happy to note a few positive changes in the first half of 2021.

1. I started regular exercise. My husband and I run on alternate days. Just waking up at 4:30- 5:00 AM and go for a run before sunrise, watching the sunrise from the mountains has helped with my energy level and mood. I ran my first 10k in April and looking forward to another in late July. On the days when I don't run, I started doing Martial Arts at the studio where my kids go. I have been doing martial arts since April and just earned my orange belt. My son and I also teach Martial arts to one of my friend's daughter in India via Zoom once a week. This has not only helped my son gain confidence, but it also helps with making schedules and lesson plans.

2. I am doing @Gauri03 75-day hard challenge. It has helped us with cooking more Vegetarian meals. I bought a book by Madhur Jeffery and both DH and I have been trying new vegetarian recipes from it. My kids have started appreciating Indian cuisine other than naan and chickpeas.

3. I have started to let go of things that I have no control over. My neighbor who is 70 and I joke about "traveling light" meaning not keeping emotional baggage. I am also a more relaxed parent (although I have always been more relaxed than my DH) and I am just fine with playing in the mud all day.

4. It was a spur-of-moment India trip in March this year. What I learned was that one week was a good enough time to quickly check on my parents and spend quality time. I don't always need to make extensive plans for India trips. I am going to do this more often and just be with my aging parents as much as I can.

5. I used to call my parents once a week, now I have started calling them whenever I have time. Sometimes, daily. My friends in India and I have started Zoom calls after my kids go to bed. I have always stayed in touch with my old friends but now we do it more often.

5. Travel has always been my passion. I love exploring places. But with two school-going kids and two academic schedules to manage, it's not always possible for us to travel as a family. This summer, kids and I explored our own town and neighboring places for two weeks and then took a week-long trip to go a bit farther. We tried new food, new trails, and new parks in our town. We also ventured out to an Indian reservation with a Native American friend and learned basket-making. My husband couldn't travel because of a grant deadline. In any other year, I would have just stayed with the kids at home but I figured that I have traveled solo extensively and we can just enjoy ourselves if my DH can't make it. It helped him focus on work without feeling guilty that we're cooped up because of his unavailability. And, we could still keep our Martial Arts schedule via Zoom.

6. Kids and I started learning a new language. I found a tutor who could come to our house twice a week or teaches via an online platform while we are out of town. It's fun to widen my horizon while spending time with the kids.

7. I also started a formal mentoring program for the Foster kids. I mentor teenage boys and girls and help them with college applications, reaching out to college faculty for finding work or as a high school researcher, making a budget, and other skills that they ask me about. This has been the most rewarding experience of this year. I have been helping students from India (mostly relatives or family friends) and have always been interested in making it my volunteer work.

8. At work, things have picked up post-Covid restrictions. One of my graduate students went on leave due to complicated pregnancy. In any other year, I would have freaked out because she was working on a federal grant but my exercise routine and just being positive in general has helped me stay calm and look for a replacement for the time being.

So far, it has been a good year for looking back and figuring out what has been important for being a happy productive me so that moving forward I can focus on those elements.

 

I will try. I don't have regular updates. I try to exercise for 45 minutes, eating healthy (although I do give in my sweet cravings every now and then), reading both fiction and non-fiction, and staying positive!