Friday, March 13, 2015

Me Again



My basket of yo-yos. One day, when I have around, oh, 500 or so of these suckers made, I'll sew them into a quilt.


Look at me, a twice-a-week blogger! Sometimes I think (speaking of habits, as I was earlier) I  should blog every day, because it can be easier to do something daily than to do it sporadically. Who knows; maybe I will.

I appreciated all the comments on my last post (especially all the nice comments about my quilt--thank you!). Heather brought up something I've thought about a lot:

I feel as if I go through most of my days noticing what needs to be changed and thinking about how to make those changes. Thinking and doing are two different things, though. Then I start to think, "What's so wrong with me that I think I need to change anything? Isn't the way I live the way I'm most comfortable and the essence of who I really am?" 

I wonder about that, too. Obviously, there are changes that really should be made--dealing with addictions, changing eating habits that are detrimental to good health, taking up exercise if you're sedentary--but like Heather I sometimes wonder why I can't just be who I am. My habits are formed around my likes, dislikes, tendencies, weirdnesses, passions, etc. What are the odds of me changing my essential personality?


All this to say, it is possible the bathrooms in my house will never be really, thoroughly cleaned more than once a month. I need to face that.

***

I have made some changes in my life very recently, and I'll be interested to see if they stick. First, I've given up dieting forever. I'm over it. Instead I am embracing the food I love, which is for the most part good old hippie food--grains, fruits and vegetables, hummus, tabouleh, beans and rice. And absurdly dark chocolate (honest--the other day I bought a bar of 99% dark chocolate and I LOVE it). Horrifying, huh?  Well, if you've been on the low-carb bandwagon over the last few years, as I have, then yeah, it's pretty scary. My carb count has gone through the roof since I put on that first pot of quinoa. But I'm very happy at every meal and have lost half a pound.

Secondly, I've taken up yoga. I've been to two classes this week, and I loved them. I love all that stretching. I don't feel half as goofy as I thought I would. I've discovered my balance is for the birds, but I hope that will change.

Why make these changes? In some way, to quote Heather, to get to the essence of who I really am. I am an eternally chubby middle-aged woman who loves complex carbohydrates and stretching. I will give up counting calories and obsessing over my weight, and in exchange for that freedom, I will exercise and dance and take a lot of walks.

We'll see how this works out.

***

Having said all that, where are we on decluttering? I'm still all for it. In her comment, Nancy advised, Continue on with the decluttering because when you are one generation older than you are presently, it will be a godsend. 

That's on my mind, and also the fact that one day we'll move out of this house. It's too big for just me and the Man by ourselves. I'd rather work on getting rid of stuff now than to wait. And Marie Kondo promises that once you do a thorough decluttering, you'll never have to do it again. Or even tidy. Everything will stay in place and be joyful and perfect forever.

Well, that's a hard deal to pass up, now isn't it?

Besides, I agree with Jo's comment: We really don't need all this stuff.

8 comments:

Angela said...

I am waiting for my local library to get Marie Kondo's book in stock for me to read. Never tidy up again, ever- can this be true?? really??
Does she never have the church youth group round on a Saturday night??
Or have to leave whatever she is doing at a moment's notice due to a pastoral emergency? [when it would be wrong to stop and put it all away]
I cannot wait to read this book.It may revolutionise my life

Pom Pom said...

Good words, Frances.
I've kissed dieting bye bye forever, too.
xo

Jo said...

I am looking forward to that yo-yo quilt. My great-grandmother made one. it was wonderful! But you are going to need a bigger basket honey..

Anyway, bravo on embracing your 'youness'. I like that idea that the changes you make are the ones that lead you towards the best version of you, not towards a socially constructed version of who you are 'supposed to be'..

gretchenjoanna said...

If I ever get back there to meet you, we will take a walk together.

Gumbo Lily said...

Yo-Yos! I've always wanted to put a yo-yo quilt together. I think they are darling. I have no yos, but maybe someday I will.

I like yoga too. I do some at home. I love sun salutation in the morning while I make my pour-over coffee.

I found after low-carbing that I NEED carbs to feel good. I don't need a lot of junk, but I need those good, complex carbs. And I love dark chocolate too, but 99% is a little too much for me. I like 70-80% best.

Be you!

Heather F said...

I'm flattered that you found some value in what I was trying to say.
I never want to do yoga, but when I do, I love it. It feels so good to release all the tension in my muscles that I never realized was there before.
I was all gung-ho to make a yoyo quilt a few years back until I realized it would take twice as much fabric to make one than a normal quilt. I decided it wasn't possible with my budget, but I hope to see yours done someday.
Have a wonderful weekend!

Nicole @ GolightlyPlace said...

Good for you! And I mean it. I've been a vegetarian for 28 years and a dairy-free vegetarian for 11. I'm not suggesting that you become either of these, but I can tell you that my diet has plenty of carbohydrates and I am very healthy and fit. I'm just saying that carbs are not a persons undoing, although some would have you to believe it. Weight loss or gain seems to boil down to simple math: calories in vs. calories out. The way to get your proper balance of that is simply what you eat and how much you use up that fuel you put in (aka, "exercise"). It's a drag that our metabolism slows as we age. It drives me a little crazy when I see that I either can't eat as much as I used to or I'll have to exercise more or longer. OR I'll have to be okay with the extra pounds creeping on. It's really all a choice every day. My method has always been to turn back to portion control and incorporating good exercise a few times a week. But I also know as I get older that I'm not going to be willing to exercise for LONG periods of time or go around feeling hungry so that I can weigh what I weighed in my 20's. Life is too short for that. I hope you can maintain your self-love ~ it's one of the hardest things ~ and enjoy all kinds of good foods. I like to do that; I just have to do it in moderation!

Tracy said...

Balance? What's balance? I do not understand that word...more to the point my vestibular challenged body does not understand that word. Not in its vocabulary.

I am currently caught in a diet space I don't know what to do with. I am not as excited by meat, as I was, and I am way bored of vegies and grains at Every. Meal. When I think about endin this fast I am not thrilled with returning to old habits, but after a weekend break which included some meat I am equally unthrilled. I have another two or three weeks to figure that out I guess.

And thank you for praying over my job stuff - I so appreciate it. And you. I will let you know when I know something.....