Tag: blog

  • Writing is Exercise

    Writing is Exercise

    I try to get up every morning and workout. It is not something I have been great at doing regularly until about 4 years ago. When I turned 40 I knew I needed to start paying better attention to my body, and keeping it working well. Since then I have a pretty good success rate at getting up and doing some type of exercise. This helps me feel good which generally means I am in a good mood and therefore more productive and pleasant.

    Writing has the same effect, by getting me to think clearly enough to write this sentence. As I write more the easier it is to put my thoughts together and convey what I am thinking. Doing this every morning helps me organize my thoughts about the day. Whether I am reflecting on something that happened yesterday, or planning something for next year writing helps review what is happening.

    When I exercise I am thinking about my next bike ride, hike, or rafting trip. I think about how a strength movement is going to help me in different circumstances. I may also be thinking about how much pain I am in and to keep breathing and get through it. Which is a huge thing to work on and apply to a bike, hike, or rafting trip. In the end I am doing these things because I enjoy them.

    Writing is also an exercise in thinking. When I am writing this sentence I am trying to organize my thoughts to convey something. I am also thinking about work, or a meeting about the trails group. Mainly I am thinking about what the heck am I trying to convey here.

    Where I get stuck with physical exercise and writing exercise is thinking about what others will think. When this happens everything freezes and I forget why I am doing this. Instead I am worrying about how I look, or if someone might think this sentence is silly. There is no benefit to this during exercise. If those things are important to an activity then it isn’t exercise, it’s work.

    The fun part about exercising physically or mentally is that it is just an exercise to get better. I have no delusions about going to the Olympics or being hired as a model, but I do want to enjoy a long bike ride. Physical exercise will ensure that I can physically complete the ride, and hopefully have a smile on my face. I have no delusions that I will be a New York Times bestselling author, but I do want to improve my writing for work. Writing exercise here on my blog gives me a place to practice writing, and expose it to whomever cares to take a look. I hope that it is enjoyable to read, but I try not to take it too seriously. I am writing metaphorical push ups and jumping jacks here with the intent that my writing elsewhere will get better.

  • Thirty Two : 32/100

    Thirty Two : 32/100

    Today marks the 32nd post in the 100 days of blogging challenge. This also marks the second month of the challenge with today being June 1st. I have written here a few times about the challenge and my approach to it. Mainly I am trying to write something more coherent than what I journal about, but I am also trying to keep it as a hobby type activity. The goal is the activity.

    Staying Active

    One of the most important things I have learned about myself is that I need to be active. Physically and mentally I need a challenge and a goal to shoot for. When I don’t do these things I get moody and generally unpleasant.

    For physical activity I have an Apple watch. The daily rings keep me focused on: moving calorie burn, exercise minutes, and standing for a few minutes each hour. Right now I have hit the Move and Exercise goals everyday since Dec 31st, or 154 days. I had a good streak going with the Stand goal too until last Wednesday. Hitting these goals gives me a few boosts: 1) I have been active all day and 2) I close the little red, blue, and green circles and remember the simple joys of life.

    One of the things that recently got me into hitting all those goals has been the sharing aspect of the watch. Anyone else you know with an Apple watch can share their daily activity with you. You don’t get the GPS of their run or bike, but you do see that they did a type of workout and for how long. You can have notifications let you know when someone has completed a workout or reached a goal. Its like having a workout buddy, but you don’t have to wait for them at the gym.

    The blogging challenge has had a similar effect. When I see someone else’s blog post I am encouraged to write. I also have the camaraderie effect of not wanting to let them down and miss a post. The variety of posts has also helped me think of new things to talk about and ways to express them.

    For a little while I dreaded writing these posts some days. That was when the habit of writing hadn’t formed and I was also overthinking things. The habit has formed out of sheer will power to sit at the computer and write at some point everyday. The overthinking things was overcome when Kate reminded me that I am doing this for fun.

    By being physically active I am helping to calm myself enough to sit and write. The activity also helps me find things to write about. If you do enough things in the day something memorable has to have happened.

    We have 67 more posts to complete the challenge. I still struggle to write these posts because I want to write something interesting, but I also want to go to bed.

    Workout detail

    I hung the last of the drywall this morning before work. Kate took the day off to help her dad and brother start the taping and mud process. After work I grabbed my rake and built a new section of trail. This part connects from the start of Kiss of Cactus. Then it meets up with the lower half of another new trail that is still in development. Then Kate and I went on an after dinner stroll to survey what has been built so far.