Well maybe 40’ish days…  🙂

4 Things for 40 days

For quite a while I’ve been thinking I should do something for forty days as I turn, ehm, 44 this last month.  Because life has been, well life… I obviously don’t have 40 days before that date.  So I’m thinking instead 4 Things for 40’ish days … as I live out the first few months of 44.

Why 4 Things?

The last four years have been hard.  There is no way to sugar coat that.  A new baby was wonderful, the c-section itself was okay.  But the year she turned one, and the three years with three massive surgeries?  That was just too much.

I’m turned 44 this year.  She is four.  2018 is my first year in since 2014 of not having an abdominal surgery.  I’m not sure why all of this seems to hit so hard and make 44 seem that big, it does.

I need to get some better habits going.  I need some accountability and I’m hoping by actually creating the bullet journal, and creating the post that I’ve outlined in my head for months I will finally get started. So the biggest question then becomes what habits am I trying to set?

1. Exercise

I need to start moving everyday.  And by moving I mean more than walking up and down my stairs chasing my four year old around.  I need to do more lifting than I do with my laundry baskets.  I need to get my heart pumping.

Beth Learn from Fit2B had this article on the blog about why we as women need to get our hearts beating and pumping on a more regular basis, I’ll link it as soon as I can find it.  What makes me glad is I know I can find a set of exercises and gentle stretching that I can do even on the harder days.

{Please remember that links to Fit2B are affiliate links and my family benefits in a small way if you choose to purchase anything through my link.}

I’m not going to take up running, no matter your views of running I am not a runner.  If you see me running, you should run as someone is likely very wrong.  Fall/Winter is here, we’ve had our first flakes of snow falling and have been below 32(f) many nights.  The geese have long flown, despite some stragglers and when I started this post weeks ago we had our first frost advisory.  As I revise this my first snowfall is supposed to be Tuesday.  This is where my membership to Fit2B is going to become invaluable because there are so many different types of workouts that I can do.

I can vary it up depending on the day and know that there are routines I can do safely with my core in even 10 minutes a day.

In November Beth also runs a November Walking Challenge.  The idea is to walk with intention every day, which I have not yet managed, but to also walk and be thankful in this month that so many focus on being thankful.  The weather here this November has made this a bit more of a challenge for me, but I’m hoping to turn that around for the rest of the month.  It isn’t too late to join if you are interested.

2.  Write

While I would love to say I’m going to have a new blog post up on the blog for 40 days straight, I know me.  This is why I said 40’ish. (We won’t mention how many days it has taken me to actually get this post completed.) But I used to write ALL the time and I do not now.  My husband writes something every day and publishes a haiku each day.  I’m proud of him for that, but I want to be proud of me for getting my creative juices going again too.

Also as a part of this I signed up for NaNoWriMo.  Why I thought that was a good idea I’m not sure.  I’m about 10,000 words behind.  But I’m being a rebel and am counting anything I write in the month of November, so this blog post counts.  I’m writing every day and that in itself is my goal.

It is so easy to push this creative outlet off for me as there is always something that needs to be done.

The never-ending laundry, the dishes loading and unloading, any other cleaning you want to think of.  Keeping kids fed.  But my husband has learned to make this a priority for him and I’m trying to use this month to help figure out how to do this for me.

3.  Read/Listen to a Book/Podcast/YouTube Creative video

This one is to have someone else talk to me about being creative.  Whether it is a story that someone wrote and I enjoy reading, or something I’m listening to.  The idea is to do something everyday that feeds me a bit creatively.  Sometimes that might be listening to a podcast or a YouTube video while I’m combing out my daughters hair.

I used to read all the time.  There are still a few authors that if I start reading them I find it harder to come back to the real world.  For a while with young kids, I found I just avoided reading altogether.  I kept getting interrupted so why bother.  But I need that get away as much now as I did when I was younger.  So I’m trying to get back to it.

So when I’m thinking a YouTube Creative video, I’m thinking something along the bullet journalers that I’ve recently started following, things about NaNoWriMo (what was I thinking again?), planning, something where I can get my creative juices thinking again.

The book I’m currently reading is The Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah Maas.  It is the last in the series and I have really enjoyed it as I’ve managed to get each book out from the library as a ebook loan.

One of my favorite podcaster/YouTube creatives is Cindy Guernto-Baldo, and her Llamas Love Lettering blog, videos, etc.

Some of my friends might be a little surprised at both offerings, especially as Cindy does swear a bit and I feel I’m back in college but I have related so much to what she has spoken about in her podcasts, the language doesn’t bother me.  Gives me an excuse to put in my headphones and have some mommy time so I can listen to the podcast/video.

So what is number 4 going to be?

This one has been a bit hard to think of.

Sleep?

I thought about trying to make it sleep and focus on getting more of it.  But that has been an utter failure these last 12 days.  As I’m typing this it is 12:19am.  Like I said, I’m working on making writing a priority, but I haven’t managed to figure out the timing yet.

I have also realized that I sleep better when I know my husband is where he is going to be for the night.  So I’m often up late keeping him company on his drive to know he arrived safely.  So these things kind of take sleep out of the mix.

Vitamins/Water?

While both of these would be very valid things, I didn’t really want to focus on something like this.  The weather is getting colder and I will have to focus on getting more water into my system as I crave hot teas or on the grey days another cup of coffee.

My final decision…  drumroll….

4.  Epsom Salt Soak

This one may sound a bit odd.  But there is a reasoning behind it.  First off I know my body aches, almost incessantly sometimes, with the weather as it changes.  As the cold weather comes in there are some days it seems to be all I can do to move about during the day.  I do not have a Jacuzzi tub to soak in, as much as I wish I did.  But when I did regularly add some epsom salt to my showers (and then plug the bottom while I showered) or drew a little water into that (awful) basin from the hospital and just sit and soak my feet in hot water for a little bit, I did feel better.

So I have some Epsom Salts on my list for groceries come pay day this week.  When I question the cost or the effort some days I will just keep coming back to posts like this, 3 Ways Epsom Salt Helps Fitness, to help remember it is part of my self-care and that I need to do it for me.

So even thought I cannot soak, I can add a cup to my shower without too much trouble every day.  It doesn’t use any more water than I would normally use as I just plug the tub when I start my shower.

Hopefully it will help.

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The end goal is to hopefully have started taking better care of me, my mind, my body and my soul during this journey.  I’ll try to share some of it along here.

For accountability I’m going to list a few of my ideas here.

• I’m thinking of creating a bullet journal spread that shows how I’m going to keep track of the four things for each day.
• Later blog posts where I reference the 4 things for 40 as a tag

With it being November 12th as I post this post. That gives me just about a month and a half to do things before the end of the year.  Maybe by then it will be a habit and then I can work on something new as my focus.  We shall see how this goes.

What would you choose to do for your 4 thing for 40 days???  I’m curious and I’d love if you shared with me below!