Mission Statement- initiated

In reading a book that I’ve owned for several years and have already read once before "The 7 habits of highly effective people" by Stephen Covey, I’ve decided to create my own personal Mission Statement.
Some points that I want to touch on:
My role as a mother
My role as a sister
My role as a daughter
My role as a member of society and the human race
My role as an employee
My role as a friend
My role as a woman
In addition to the above I also want to use my Mission statement to clearly list my priorities. What’s most important, and what standard will I hold myself to in each area of my life.
One thing that struck me in this book was an exercise that included imagining your funeral. Imaging what the people closest to you would say about you as a person right now. What would they say about how you impacted their life or who you were as a person. Then imagine your funeral and what you would want people to say about you. This exercise is meant to instill the mindset to ‘begin with the end in mind’.
That being said, if I stay on the path I am on, what would people say about me at my funeral? Now I need to think about what I would want people to say or think. What would I want my daughter to say about me? My siblings? My closest friends and family? My co-workers? And what do I need to change to make the two ends meet? To bridge the gap?
What are my priorities?
What do I have control over?
What really matters in the long run?
What kind of person do I want to be remembered as?
What are the things that I need to work on?
-my patience
-my health
-money management
-my basic core principals
-my direction
-my motivation
-my center
I am going to take great care in writing this mission statement. I am not going to take it lightly. This is going to be the Constitution of my life and although I may need to make some amendments in the future I want to make sure my Mission statement reflects the core of my being.

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Not a diet/a lifestyle change

Here is a picture of me at Thanksgiving. 175. Yeeeeah. I am really really lucky I'm tall.

Here is a picture of me towards the middle of March. Hard to tell what with my messed up hair, no makeup, hanging out in a dark home made fort with a stupid-ass look on my face, but I'm at 160.

I am now proud to report that I am at a steady 155 (no fluctuation) and over 1/2 way to my goal. 140 here i come!

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Healthy Stress Management

This is a subject that I’ve recently decided I need to learn more about. I don’t think I handle stress very well. It becomes easy to turn to a mood altering substance (or two) as a coping mechanism but this is just a cheap ass Band-Aid that rips the wound further when it’s pulled off. I found myself falling into habits that I wasn’t proud of, using the old ‘after a long hard day I deserve to….” Excuse. I finally stopped and asked myself one simple question. Why?

My thought process in answering that question brought me to the same place over and over. An escape from my life and myself. Again, I ask why?

The answer? I think too much! I think and then I over-think and then I plan and I worry. I make lists and keep a journal to try and organize my thoughts and my life, but no matter how much I clean or write I still feel chaotic.

When everything is in its place I feel boring and scripted. When everything is out of place I feel hectic and anxious. When things are just right I feel happy and grateful but those feelings are always short lived. When I look at my peers I feel like all my ducks are in a row in comparison, but I also feel like it’s a façade. Maybe they have it more together just for the sheer fact that they don’t over-think it (it being life) like I do.

I tend to handle stress either by substance or anger. I need a healthier outlet. I Hope I’m not the only one that can relate. I’m exploring my options. Testing the waters to see what works. I will report when I’ve had my AHA! moment. Sorry to disappoint anyone who was hoping for answers to 'healthy stress management' instead of question.

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Spring is in the air

Springtime is here, and it even actually feels like it too this year! It makes me want to change and renew right along with nature. I know I sound like a hippie tree hugger sometimes, but spring is my favorite time of year! I just love the way the air smells and everything coming back to life after a long cold winter! Nothing beats it!
That said I’d like to use this time of year to reaffirm my current goals and begin to flirt with some new ones as well.
I am in the process of coming up with a power work out regimen to power through the last 15 (or so) pounds I have to lose. I plan to continue regular physical activity after I’ve lost the weight, but I just want to get it off as soon as possible! Shorts season is right around the corner. This would be my ideal work out day
Pilates before work
Brisk 30-45 minute walk during my lunch
Tae Bo after work
Weights in the evening
This routine would be a 5 day a week routine. Then Saturday would be an outdoor activity with Nevaeh along with a set of my weight training as well (my arm flab is very stubborn!!!)
For food I’ve been relying on lean cuisine’s to help for calorie and portion control, but I would really like to start establishing some good solid long term eating habits with fresh fruits and veggies that don’t come out of a box. Whether I like it or not, lean cuisine’s is not a healthy long term eating plan.
While on the subject of healthy eating, the last few weeks I’ve slowly become more and more aware of the unhealthy way American’s eat. Even the foods we think are healthy are not good for our bodies as many contain preservatives and chemicals that our bodies don’t know what to do with. A lot of the foods we eat contain little or no actual real food. It really is scary once you start actually looking at the ingredients you’re consuming with processed foods.
The produce section used to be easy access to nice healthy natural food, but the reality is, even the produce section can be misleading and unhealthy. Corporate farming has comes to this: The need to mass-produce to such an extent as to jeopardize the health of American’s at large. Everything from vegetable (genetically altered seeds) to the pesticides used to the hormones that our beef, pork and poultry are being injected with. People wonder why American’s are so unhealthy. Why so much obesity, cancer, diabetes. The answers may be simpler than we think.
I thought I was doing a favor to my daughter and my own health by cutting out fast food, junk food and minimizing fried food from our diet. Unfortunately I’m starting to get the picture that I’ve not done nearly enough. The simplest thing you can think of such as a bowl of cereal (Cheerios even!!! The stuff we think is good for us!!) contain things that are unnatural and potentially harmful.
What we need is a complete and total paradigm shift. It can be very overwhelming to rethink everything we think we know about food, or to change such a basic yet major habit of all of our every day lives. However, in my personal opinion, and in the words of Alicia Silverstone, it’s definite a consideration worth ‘flirting with’. Small changes can make a big difference. It’s kind of like recycling. You may not think that you, one little person, taking the time in separating your plastic, glass, aluminum and paper from the rest of your trash, or starting a compost pile doesn’t make much of a difference. I mean, you are only one person, right? All it takes is millions of ‘one person’s" to change the world!!!
Look at that, a lecture in food and recycling! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
Anywho, I myself do not feel like being overwhelmed. I am going to focus on one thing at a time until I’ve mastered it, then move onto the next thing. Right now that one thing is my health (not a diet, a lifestyle change) and my financials. Okay, I lied, there are two things =D

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