(Source)
Intentional.
I want my life to be intentional. I’m a pretty simple person but I don’t want to wake up in 35 years only to realize that I never hoisted my sails. I may not be able to control the wind (A realization that I’m still throwing a tantrum over.) but I can control the rudder of my boat. Or so I try.
In an attempt to live a life of intention, every once in while I take a personal inventory, give myself a “report card” if you will. I look the different aspects of my life marriage, parenting, friendships, spiritual, creativity, mental, ect. As part of my report card, I look at my health. I think of it as taking my hero-mobile into the shop for some routine maintenance. The point of my report card is not to punish myself with guilt. The point is to simply take an account of my choices, evaluate, tweek, and move on never expecting perfection because perfection is an enemy to progress.
Report Card
First Semester 2010
1. Food : A-
The last few months food has been my easiest subject. The year didn’t start off this way. Coming out the holidays I had some adjusting to do if I wanted to maintain my weighloss. I tested my sugar addiction and realized that I needed to keep some “rules” in place. Lately, I’ve been counting calories and that has taken given me a real sense of freedom. (That’s a post in and of itself.) Earlier in June, I wasn’t getting as many vegetables as I would like but the last few weeks I’ve deliberately been trying to eat more. Recently, I went camping and really enjoyed myself and my food while still sticking to my goals. I also enjoyed our Father’s Day celebration without over indulging. Overall, I feel like I’m in a fantastic place losing the weight I put on over the winter (that I need to lose to pass my certification) without feeling down or restricted. It’s awesome. I give myself an A-.
2. Fitness: B
I’ve been working out regularly but I’ve been neglecting my flexibility. Since I study taekwondo flexibility is very important to my performance. My strength has slowly but steadily improved. I can now comfortable press the 12kg (26 lb) kettlebell for multiple repetitions. A few months ago I had to push press it for just one rep. Admittedly, some of this is from improved technique and not pure strength. Pull ups are not happening. A year and a half ago I surprised myself by doing multiple straight pull ups. Now with my weight gain and neglect I’ve seem to lost them. It’s frustrating but I’m sticking with it. Since finding out I have the metabolism of a slug I’ve just been making an effort to move more in general. Walking while my kids are in taekwondo, walking to the store, mopping my floors once a week more often. Overall, I feel like I’m doing well but there is surely room for improvement and with the RKC coming up I can’t afford to get cocky. I MUST continue to train intentionally. I give myself a B.
3. Rest: D-
NEEDS MAJOR IMPROVEMENT. I’m going to be honest. Last night was the first night I have gotten a full 8 hours in months. I’m definitely noticing my lack of sleep. My workouts feel weak, my emotions are more up and down, my skin and eyes look “dull”. Here is my “excuse” for lack of sleep. My blog is over 2 years old but for most of those two years I had NO CLUE that there was a community of health bloggers. I spent time on message boards and read a few blogs of people I had met on the message boards but other than that I blogged under a rock. A few months ago I started “meeting” other bloggers and spending waaaaay more time online. While I love developing friendships and reading about other people’s lives my well being has started to suffer. The only time I can find time to read is at night. I sit down to read and comment an for an hour but that hour turns into 2 or 3 or more. Before I know it it’s nearly midnight. I wake up between 5:30-6:30 no matter what time I go to bed so I really really REALLY need to get to bed earlier. My mental well being depends on it. Not only that but I have many other interests other than blogging and health. My lack of sleep is lowering other personal grades as well. Overall, this is definitely the flattest tire of the hero-mobile. I give myself a D- and I must find the self-disciple to raise this grade.
4. Gratitude: B-
This one is hard to grade myself so I asked my husband and he gave me a B-. Hmmmmm???? I asked him why a “B” f-ing “MINUS”???? He said, “body image”. My response to that, “You try living as a woman in a world that worships the airbrushed images on magazines. I happen to think I have very good body image, thank you.” Seriously tho’, I have my up and down days regarding my body image. Most of the time, I feel pretty dang good about my body but I do have my days (more than I like) where I struggle with self-esteem and forget all the blessings in my life. Along with my body image not being where I want it and considering my response towards requested criticism, I think a B- is fair.
Notes
My report card may look a little “dismal” to some or like I’m being too hard on myself. While I give myself LOTS of grace, I also feel like honesty is the best policy when it comes to personal growth. I think it’s important to see my strengths but also recognize my weaknesses. I don’t think giving myself straight As would do me much good. I’m not beating myself up over my “lower grades”. I’m looking to see what in my life needs improvement. Like life, my choices are a series of hills and valleys. I’ll enjoy the peaks when I can and trudge through the valleys when I must.
Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn
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What a great idea for a post, Jenn. I think it’s smart to take a look at how things are going in life- as long as you can change them. And you can.
Re. your D- it’s so ironic that we met right when you came out from under that rock. And we talked about all of this- and the time commitment. I have spent the last glorious two hours just rolling through my Google Reader that was up to about 400, marking many as read. But savoring the ones that I did read. And enjoying the process. It’s sad that it took my Dad’s dying to force me to step back from reading blogs and also from writing my own. But in the process of this, I believe that I have been living my life far more fully and I have been happy. I have been seeing old friends, family and meeting new friends. And I’ve been cherishing my classes all over the place- really enjoying the workouts rather than slogging through them because I have to do it.
So for what it’s worth: my plan for myself is to sporadically blog and read blogs. When I’m out living, then perhaps there’s no time for blogging. I think I’m ok with that. And perhaps you can be too? I hope that this helps. It’s smart to take care of yourself!
Hugs to you!
Love this report card idea! I might have to implement a report card. Expect the first one in December (6 months from now
I would like to give you an A+ for being a supportive, non-judgmental, loving friend. Thank you. x
hugs and kisses to you!
Overall, I’d say you have had a great semester. If I were your mom, I’d give you an increase in your allowance.
I love this idea of a report card!! And I think you DO have to be honest with yourself on something like this, otherwise it’s just fluff.
And I would totally give myself a D on the REST grade – I’ve been slacking in this area, and it shows. I think the kindest gift we can ourselves (and our families) is plenty of SLEEP!! Maybe you could set some sort of timer for yourself so that when your hour of “blog time” is up – you can shut it down and head for bed. Good luck!
Good idea thank you!
Great idea to write up a report card for yourself. I think it’s an excellent idea to take a step back and reflect on how things are going.
I like Jil’s idea of a timer. Give yourself an hour to read/comment, but ya know what, if you don’t get to everyone’s blog, it is OK -just as long as you get to mine… TOTALLY KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Take care of yourself and get lots of rest.
I like this post. Interesting concept giving yourself a report card. I give you an A+ on effort and commitment.
Thanks Wee to the wa!
Blogging grade= A+ Friendship= A+ there that just raised your overall average.
Love you!
I like the idea of grading yourself! What a great post! Be sure to add in some easy A classes though like “Being a great parent”!
this is my first time stopping by and your post is a great way for me to be ‘introduced’ to you a little bit. I look forward to reading more; it’s great that you have goals and perspective on what’s going on in your life
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I kinda like the idea of a Report Card… wonder about doing one quarterly or even monthly. I have to live in today or I get lost in what was and why is it taking so long. Being an extremist past diets and fitness crazes for me often would yo-yo because I would go so hard with a fasting or workouts then reward(Binge) myself for weeks and all the hard work would disappear. The Gratitude Area is HUGE. I like thinking and writing about things that are going well and keep bouncing off of those. Between family and health I am lucky and cannot take it for granted…. at the same time I enjoy Mental Toughness and pushing myself and not getting to comfortable/lazy/denial.
Thanks for the idea and I see another comment here about Bucket List.. thats an idea also.
Thank your for your thoughtful comment.
I can relate to the “extremist” mindset.
I’ve worked really hard this past year at being more “balanced”. I’ve been thinking about doing a report card monthly as well. Sort of helps me to stay balanced and not be so hard on myself.
[...] a little too much MMA kicked my butt) but seeing how “Rest” was my lowest grade on my last report card it is going to have to wait. Until then here are a few pictures from this week. If you are in [...]