To hold me accountable, I decided I should post check-ins on how my progress towards my monthly goals (and, ultimately, my personal happiness) is going. If you missed my September goals and the reasons behind them, you can check them out here.

 

1) Eliminate Clutter.

So far, so good here. I went through my book collection for the second time this year and eliminated A LOT. Although, the after picture looks a lot like the before picture, it’s nice to know this is a more curated collection and there aren’t books hiding behind books.

I also tackled the desk in the living room, going through the drawers and throwing out junk. I also gave each drawer a specific purpose (they now store office supplies, cables, and cat toys, three categories of “stuff” that never had a proper home) which is something I had never done before. I found a coffee table that fits our home decor aesthetic and fit our budget (now it just needs to get stocked at a nearby IKEA!). I cleaned the kitchen cupboards. Matt cleaned the freezer. And I decided to give up the fish tank. I’ve had a fish tank and fish since second year university, but it’s the one responsibility I kept failing on. I was a bad fish owner. I didn’t clean the tank as often as I should. And when we were in-between fish, it would sit there, empty, for months before I would go and clean it and re-load it again. So instead of letting the guilt get to me, I’m letting go. It’s one of my happiness resolutions, after all. And I’m at peace with this decision.

Next: I need to buy a mirror and finish my latest art project, find (or make) some curtains, and the living room is done. Then it’s on to the kitchen. Uh-oh.

 

2) Lose 10 pounds.

The easiest way to assess this is to talk numbers, so let’s talk numbers. Ever since university, I’ve weighed between 185-190 pounds, without too much thought or effort. When I took up running and yoga to the extent I do it today, that number stayed between 185-190 pounds. I didn’t decide to become fit to lose weight, but I was expecting it to be a nice side effect of half-marathon training. It wasn’t.

So, this month, I’ve focused on the other culprit: food. My carb intake is at about 10% of what it used to be. Sugar (except in coffee, and then it’s always raw) is almost non-existent. Alcohol, well that could be less. But 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

So how is the weight doing? All this effort is paying off. Sort of. I’ve been doing this for about a month and I’m now consistently between 182-186. It’s been slow. It hasn’t always been fun. But I am moving forward.

 

3) Wake Up Earlier.

This was the biggest surprise of all my goals. Once I made the decision that 6:30 would be my new wake-up time, getting up was easy. And, of all these goals, has been the one to make the most direct impact on my life. As a result of that extra 45 minutes, my house is cleaner and I feel happier and more productive. I’ve cheated a few times (gotten out of bed, then snoozed on the couch until 7), but overall, this is a change I’m happy with and want to make more changes to make sure it’s a permanent one. To build on this goal, I plan to go to bed earlier and to build more morning work-outs into my schedule.

 

4) Do yoga 3x a week.

Well, the first week of September, I was slacking in the fit department and only did yoga twice each week. I think missing only one class isn’t enough to beat myself up over. I just need to acknowledge why it happened, how it made me feel to miss that class, and move forward. That, I can do.

 

5) Make a skirt.

Haven’t done this yet, But I did make my first-ever batch of hummus. It was too salty, but I was reminded how easy it is to make hummus! I will do it again and I hope to have better results.

 

Here’s my work-out rundown from last week:

 

 

Monday: FitStreets 5k

Tuesday: Hatha lunch time flow

Friday: Hot lunch time flow

Saturday: 10k on Martin Goodman Trail

Sunday: 7k to the Leslieville Farmers’ Market

 

I have noticed that without a race in mind (I had to scrap the Scotiabank half-marathon this fall because of a wedding) and with work picking up, my weekly workouts have dropped from 6-8 per week to 4 or 5. I’m going to spend the last two weeks in September concentrating on bringing that back up!