Monday, May 15, 2006

Put On Your Walking Shoes!

Tread: To step or walk on or over, to walk along. To beat or press with the feet, to subdue or repress as if by trampling.

Greetings! On this 15th day of May, 2006, I welcome any readers who may find this tiny corner of the Internet, by direct invitation or by "accident," to "Treading Towards a New Horizon." If there had been room for a subtitle, it would have been this: "One Woman's Journey to Physical, Mental and Financial Fitness." When this blog was still a mere idea, I envisioned it as being a year-long journey. Then as I began to write today, I realized - what nonsense, if not arrogance!

It's true that I hope to accomplish a good deal by May 15, 2007. But true fitness, especially in three categories at once, is more likely to be a lifelong journey, isn't it?

Some of you may wonder why I chose May 15 as my "start date," rather than the more common January 1. Like most of you, I've made - and broken - my share of New Year's resolutions. A few years ago I stopped making them entirely, refusing to fool myself into believing that I'd really keep them. (Does anyone?) Actually, there is nothing particularly special about May 15. It just happens to be a Monday, and I always start a diet and/or fitness program on a Monday. That, after all, gives you leeway to do whatever you want for a weekend, at least! And this is at least the third time I've begun this latest journey. I hope it will be the last for a long while.

But why blog about it? I have to admit that I approached this new venture with trepidation. After all, blogging would make me more accountable! People would be reading my entries - hopefully - and would know when I cheated as well as succeeded! Being a sometimes painfully honest person, I would be revealing some things about my current physical state, such as my beginning weight, that are embarrassing!

I had other concerns, too. What if I ran out of things to say? I'm not normally a very talkative person, nor an extraordinarily deep thinker. So much has been written already. Would the people I wanted to reach find me?

Because, you see, there are specific people I want to reach...people who, like me, have spent much of their lives sedentary and when they set out to change their physical state, discover that the joints and muscles don't move as smoothly as they expected, that the shouted claims of advertisments are too often false, that pounds and inches don't vanish as quickly as they hoped, that the scale is both a kind friend and a harsh enemy, depending on a variety of factors, some of which are unseen and unguessed at. People like me who are dissatisfied, at least sometimes, with their current level of mental and financial, as well as physical, fitness. People who wonder if it's too late for change, or at least the amount of change they would like to see.

If this describes you - especially if you're in middle life, as I am, when fitness at all levels is more challenging - it's my hope that the personal experiences, thoughts, observations, quotations, and questions I post here will be of help to you. And I hope that you will have many things to teach me! Along the way I'll be sharing the practical tools I use, as well as how well they work (or don't work) for me. I'll share my failures and temptations as well as my successes, and I hope you'll share yours as well.

To tread is to "walk," but it also means "to subdue or repress." What a fitting meaning for this blog, because there are things I'll be trying to "subdue or repress," from a mid-life identity that fights change with a sharp sword, to cravings for food that stem more from self-medication than hunger, to simple but deeply ingrained habits. If you'd like to tread with me, then put on your walking shoes and...

Come along.

-Treader Lucie-

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Luci,

Good to hear from you--this is just a quick hello. I have a busy few days ahead---meetings here and stitchers here on Thur.,5-18-06, join us we would love to see you. Lets gget together.


estelle

Joyce and Wiley said...

Great start, Lucie! I've bookmarked the site, and I'll be checking it whenever I have internet access. We're leaving this morning for Cape Cod!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your step up! Your determination to polish mind body and spirit into all you can be is inspiring as well to the rest of us facing our own midlife crises. Crossing the crossroads of midlife surely puts the lid on that procrastinating little voice that says oh I've got plenty of time for that! No, it's do or die looking out from the other side of fifty. All those imagined fantasy years ahead once so easily accessible and imagined are suddenly blocked out by the looming shadow of death--the reaper is close! He's waiting for you to slip up---he's ready to collect on that one too many juicey steaks you ate or that one too many days you skipped a jog around the park for your heart-- now strangled in fat. I hear you Lucie! Let's use this wise seasoned time of life to be all we were born to be!Let's be good to ourselves for a change.Lets give ourselves permission to demand more--be a bother. Speak up more--eat less!

Anonymous said...

A Cliffhanger! just when you had me hooked--I hear what your saying. I too have been cornerd by age to finally solve this weight issue. I've been obsessively thin as well as fat (mostly fat). I can honestly say at this late date in the game that dieting is NOT about willpower. It's about the feelings we eat when we are eating food. It's a diversion--a compulsion that masks what really is eating us. It's about not really loving ourselves. It's a LOT of childhood baggage. To be hungry should come from the stomach but for me not eating causes intense anxiety---a fearfulness overtakes me. I feel like something bad is going to happen. These intense emotions in the end are worse than the pain of being fat! Or so I've convinced myself. Being fat is such a circle of failure and self loathing---so much so that I think the selfloathing part is really the root of it. Sometimes I think it's as simple as hating myself because it's easier than hating my mother--what kind of monster hates her mother!

Anonymous said...

Hi Lucie,

Jyoti here. I am proud of you - it is a bold step you have taken and on the right path. It was nice reading what you wrote and identify with it.

Kudos to you..

Jyoti

Joyce and Wiley said...

Loved your combat post! You've got a great sense of humor and an ability to be honest with yourself. I'm enjoying your posts. Keep it up!

Anonymous said...

Very pretty site! Keep working. thnx!
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