Travel Mercies: Weight Loss, Organization, and Writing that Novel

Like most people, I set New Year’s Resolutions and then am (not) surprised when mid-year comes and I have not stuck to them. This year, I decided to phrase my resolutions as goals, even including step-by-step objectives for some of them. I have actually reached a couple of the goals I set.


I believe that part of my problem is accountability. If I hadn’t shared with you that I wasn’t moving forward, nobody (except for myself) would be the wiser. Since I really do want to accomplish my goals, and procrastination has always been a factor, I am going to use my blog as an incentive. I will report progress or lack of progress to you. You may wish to join me on my journey; you may have the same areas of your life that are challenges. If so, I welcome your comments and suggestions. I will note, before telling you about the areas that challenge me, that some may suggest that working on three at once may be too difficult, that my journey should have only one destination. My feeling is that the areas that challenge my life are interrelated and that I can journey in more than one, as long as they don’t lead me in different directions.

Weight Loss

I have been struggling with my weight for 40 years. After the birth of my first child, I retained about five pounds; with four children, I was 20 pounds overweight. That 20 pounds was not obvious, but the extra weight kept creeping up in the years that followed until I was 30 pounds overweight. My divorce gave me an incentive to lose, which I did; a happy marriage eventually led to more weight gain. I lost again by going on fen-phen (and was fortunate to not have any permanent heart damage); then gained and lost again on Weight Watchers (twice) and Nutrisystem. Sporatic attempts led to small weight losses, but a broken foot five years ago was a good excuse to cease the little exercise I was doing, and soothe myself by over-eating. So here I am, post-retirement, with a lot of weight to lose if I want to continue my life in good health. My plan is to watch calories, but emphasize eating foods that contribute to my well-being. I know, too, that it is time to build back the muscle I’ve lost and to pay attention to my body’s need for exercise. That is what I will report to you – my progress, challenges, and my (certain to happen) slip-ups.

Organization

I’ve recently had an opportunity to revisit my organization goal. An air-conditioning problem led to the carpet in our office being soaked. We had to remove all contents of the office (including emptying drawers, cabinets and bookshelves) and the office closet. I’m now replacing everything and am using the process as a weeding time as well – a jump-started decluttering. It is leading me to reconsider many of the things I am keeping. I have recently read the book Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, and recognize myself in some pages. I am not a “hoarder” in the most extreme sense, but feel their pain when sorting through old photographs, school papers, and a lifetime of memorabilia. I will share some of my adventure in decluttering with you; maybe we can encourage each other as we pitch some of the photographs with decapitated subjects and decades-old coursages.

Writing My Novel

I have begun several novels and haven’t finished any. I want to try again. I don’t know what else to say about that except that I have finished short stories, essays, columns, editorials, book reviews, blog posts – you get the picture. It’s easy to say that you’re working on a novel (as I have, many times); there aren’t very many people who will corner you and ask how it’s going. (I do have a few sadistic friends and relatives who do that.) Maybe going on record here will help. Maybe you have the same problem and we can prod each other.

So that’s it – my public goal list. I’ll revisited it soon (and often) to let you know how it’s going.

Annie Joy