Picking a Corner
More tired than I want to be these days, probably because I have been simultaneously walking several miles every other day, and changing my schedule where I get up earlier and go to bed earlier. My feet both hurt less intensely, but hurt more often. The ankle pain has lessened now that I seemed to have strengthened that particular side, but the soles of my both my feet are frequently sore, sometimes in the morning when I wake up.
My schedule change hasn't stabilized yet. It's my goal to be home and in bed by nine pm, but the other day I was out until eleven, and recently my habit of these past few months has been to not to go to sleep before midnight. If I have learned anything in life, perhaps one true thing is that change and effort, especially those that are new, take time. Being patient with myself is a challenge sometimes, especially since everything in the world seems to want to push us towards outrage.
Still trying to sleep eight hours a night, and trying to cut out on junk meals that are easy to prepare and have no "clean-up."
Fixing my life is a lot like my project of cleaning up my parent's property. There is a lot of junk that needs cleared out, and the job will take several months. However, if I really want to do it, and make progress, than I just have to pick a corner and get started.
21 August 2023
Pumping Gas
So, tonight I pumped my own gas. Decades ago, when I was a teenager, I did it a few times as I had lived in another state. Fifteen years or so before tonight, I last did it when visiting Canada on vacation.
Two thoughts: first, the digital part of pumping gas is entirely new for me. Thankfully, we don't have video/audio ads at the place I usually get gas at yet, but I am sure it is coming. Second, I hate pumping my own gas. Of course, I am going to do it every time (unless they change the law) because I hate paying more for full service, which is another thing coming I am sure.
I know the rest of the country is shrugging its shoulders and asking what the big deal is. For me, it is the relentless drive to have customers like myself do the labor for corporations without any consideration or compensation. I am already my own cashier at the grocery store, hand scanning products at ever increasing prices. As I get older, I find I hate the constant barrage of ads, especially those that claim to offer me a benefit, but in reality is just a way for extreme materialism to solely benefit corporations. Self checkouts packed with ads, robotic phone trees that take forever to get through, social media posts that have ads after every second or third post I look at.
Patience is a virtue I have to work on as we continue to navigate our consumerist futures. Everything is treated like a commodity, including things that aren't, like our imaginations or our dignity.
16 August 2023
Heath Habits of Late
I've been walking four miles every other day during the month of August. My feet are stronger, and I am not as out of breath as when I first started. Although, my main goal is to lose weight, it hasn't happened yet. I'm certain that requires a diet change as well. In a sense, I have already begun to change my diet by eating less fried foods and reducing my sugar intake. However, I may be eating too much food overall. I suspect age and chemical effects of long term health conditions are making weight loss more of a challenge than before.
Sometimes, I try to take a picture while out on my hike. The above picture of the flower is an example of that. I've also noticed 'regulars' on the trail that I take my morning hikes on, healthy people jogging, parents pushing strollers, elderly folks staving off the deleterious advances of age. I must look a little out of place because of my heavy 'street' clothes and my weight. There are occasional walkers who are similarly large, but I haven't yet been hiking long enough to recognize any regulars from among that group.
