The Extra Mile

I am full of things I want to do more of, or less of, to make myself better in every way. But I've decided to only make two actual commitments as resolutions. By making them very concrete, controllable, measurable, and ambitious without being impossible, there is a good chance these resolutions will actually add to my self esteem instead of just give me something else to beat myself up for not doing.

Resolution number one:  Go the extra mile. Literally. Walk (or run) an "extra" mile or more every single day. I mean Every. Single. Day.  No banking them ahead of time, or making up for misses. I want at least 365 miles behind me at the end of the year.

My thinking on this: I want to make it a habit. I also believe walking has the power to lower stress and make me feel better all over - though the actual aerobic benefits will be minimal at best, if I just stroll a bit. But it is still better than some days I've had, where I am a total slug, just curled up under my leaf and not moving except to eat.  My mile will be about 100 calories, about 3,000 steps, nothing that will really pay off in terms of weight loss or fitness. But it is so very achievable. I've got a treadmill in my basement, and I can go downstairs for a half hour at two miles an hour and then climb right into bed. So I will. I started a couple days before the new year, so I'm five in a row right now.

The rules:  "Extra" means that it is an intentional walk, not incidental to moving around the house or office building. It certainly can be on the way to something else, if I choose walking versus metro or driving. And certainly, I could jog or run instead. So this will be between 12 and 30 minutes a day.

Resolution number two:  Write 750 words every day for the month of January.  A few days ago, I wrote about the 750 words website. I've signed up for the January challenge, and I've done eight days in a row so far, since I didn't way for the year to start. I think this is helping, though yesterday was the most scattered. I haven't yet figured out exactly how to use this or what it is doing for me, but it's a DIY form of therapy I want to try. So I'm not resolving for the whole year, but to carry it through January 31.  I'll report on progress and decide what to do after that.

I have a whole long list of things to do more of:

• Spend more time with the kids
• Talk to more people at work
• Spend more time with friends
• Cook better food
• Run
• See more movies
• Play piano
• Spend time with my mother
• Manage my money better
• Yada yada yada

And I'll try. (Sorry, Yoda, but there is a "try", not just a "do or not do".) But I'm not committing the way I'm committing to walk and write.