Staying healthy and body image.

I must admit that I haven't been particularly kind to my body recently. Studying for final exams is not conducive to healthy eating and regular physical activity, which sadly started to show, causing me serious body image issues. Mr Magic does his best to make sure I still feel attractive, but there are limits even to what he can accomplish in this department. 

Now that it is almost over, I will hopefully come back on track. Swimming is on the agenda, especially that we've signed up for a canal swim in Copenhagen in August, which means I actually need to train myself to swim 2km. It's 80 lengths and it's a lot. But hopefully in three months time I will be fit enough to jump into a cold canal and do it in under an hour (fingers crossed).

I was quite keen on running, but actually I think I'd rather do Zumba, in particular if I am to do it on my own, it's more fun. Unless I can find somebody who is willing to get down to my slow running pace.

Healthy eating is my other goal, since I'll be feeding myself with mostly carbs for the past two months. I have such a sweet tooth it's unbelievable. But celery and carrots with hummus are also nice, so I will just stick with those. And fruit, especially strawberrries, to satisfy my cravings. So as soon as the exam are completely over, there will be no more chocolate and pecan popcorn, veggie percies and other such things. Eh, it won't be easy.

I'm fully aware that I shouldn't have too much issues with how I look like, it's not as if I've gone four sizes up, but I would like to feel really good in my own skin and I don't at the moment. But there is a lot I can do to change it. And this is great, that I have some control over it.

Daily rituals.

My mornings are usually either absolutely mad or all over the place. I either have so much to do that I don't know where to start (so I end up doing everything at once) or I take absolutely ages to go through all the essential morning functions.

I'm trying to introduce some morning rituals into my life to bring some order and regularity to this madness. I use an app called Fabulous which allows you to set up ritual reminders and alarms, gives a number of suggestions as to what sort of rituals you can implement into your day (in the morning, afternoon and evening). It also has challenges which you do over three consecutive days, which is like playing a game, really. Better than collecting stickers for each our of revision.

Here are some rituals that I'm trying to implement, with more or less success. Apparently it takes 21 days to make a habit. Well, with me it probably takes more than that, I'm a very stubborn person when it comes to such things (see my repeated failure to complete a 21 day junk food challenge).

Morning rituals:

have a great breakfast: 15 minutes of exclusively me time with something delicious to eat and a cup of green tea.

to do list: apparently to do apps do not work, so I got a notebook and each day I try to write down three most important things to do that day, and if there are more than that, I arrange it into A, B and C categories, A being the most important, C- the least important.

eat the frog: "if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worse things that is going to happen to you all day long." (Mark Twain)

block distractions: Oh, I need to do this more often, I have an extension called Focus 45 on my computer, which essentially blocks all the naughty sites for 45-minute periods at the time, helping me to get more done.

Afternoon rituals:

drink tea: I probably drink excessive amounts of tea each day, but apparently it calms you down, and this is something I really need now.

take a walk: this doesn't always happen, but when the weather is nice and I can concentrate no longer, a brisk walk in Christchurch Meadow is what I need the most.

Evening rituals

clean&tidy up: Alright, so I'm not good at that one, mostly because I don't have much time. But I'm working on it. Resolution for this weekend: tidy up the pile of clothes on y bedroom floor.

prayer time: Another one I struggle with, but I think it's so important to slow down in the evening and just be with the Mighty One.