Sucess Story - I talked myself into that walk!!

I really wanted to record this because it was definitely a sucess story for me.

Today I thought a nice way I could try and get a little exercise in would be to catch my local bus down to the river and go and take a quick walk for 30 mins or so. During the day I was still thinking positively about this and even encouraged myself to do it as soon as I got home. Get changed, gather my things and get out again before I get tooo sucked into just lazying at home.

I was doing well, but started to slow down as I spent more time dilly dallying around gathering my things. Slowly the energy was subsiding and the thoughts of leaving the house again were becoming dim and soft whisper. At this point I was almost ready to leave but I sat down on my bed, then I lied down.....OH what a mistake.

At this point I knew I was in trouble. I told myself I had a couple of minutes to take a rest. After a couple of minutes I knew I was going to have to convince myself why I was doing this! And convince myself to get up again and get out that door. So I hopped up and walked into the bathroom and took a good look at myself in the mirror.

I looked at myself square in the eyes and said to myself "remember why you're doing this!!" you want to be healthier, you want to feel more fit, you want to feel lighter and you want to lose that podgy tummy so you can wear some really great clothes. Actually, you don't look too bad, but you do need to lose some of this extra weight and only exercise is going to do that! So let's make a deal. All you have to do is get on the bus, that's easy. Then we'll do a good 15 min walk. Stop, do a few light stretches, then turn back and do a good 15 min walk back. Then it's back on the bus, take a rest and back home where you can rest all you like. How does that sound? Come on, it's easy. You can do it. Let's go.

So off I went and it was easy. I was tempted to walk further than the 15 mins, but I thought it better to stick with the promise I'd made to the girl in the mirror, that way she can trust me again to do what I promise. Some of the things I really want to remember about my walk today are: how lovely it felt to be outside, being along the running river and looking at all the really green grass and pretty flowers. Seeing real birds playing in the water and watching loads of other people out and about doing some exercise. Physically I felt great and it wasn't a burden to walk the 15 mins there and back. It was just right for my level right now.

A quick funny story which explains my personality a little bit. I'm a little bit goal oriented...just a little. Anyway, on the way back, I noticed I was trailing a gentleman in a red tracksuit, being a little competitive, I started to think, I'm going to overtake him before I get back to my destination. Now he was doing a decent speed in walking but still, I wanted to make it my new little goal just to beat him. Silly as it may seem, it motivated me to walk a little harder and faster to catch up. Eventually, I was tailing him and the end of my walk was coming near. I gave a final burst of walking energy and succeeded to overtake the man in the red suit. A silly little thing but it made me feel good to achieve my little goal and it also worked to help me have a real workout rather than just slowly wander aimlessly down the road.

Anyway, today was a good day and 2 small successes were achieved for me - Yeah!

Cheers
Kirsty