Goals.

This past winter really took it out of me. The freezing, overcast days left me feeling tired, and by the evenings I was pretty lethargic. For several weeks after work I made dinner and headed straight to bed to watch Netflix. Maybe it was a result of SADD, but it definitely wasn’t me. It was frustrating and I was worried that was it was just my new speed. Thankfully, I was wrong.

I’m ecstatic my mood has seemed to shift in these last few weeks and my weeknights and weekends are once again productive. I decided that since my energy level it up, it’s time to tackle my physical activity levels as well. I know if I keep myself moving and even get short bursts of energy throughout the day I’ll  get my endorphins up. And it’s like Elle Woods says, “Endorphins makes you happy.”

So how will I hold myself to this? Years ago (before Fitbits existed) I owned a pedometer and was obsessed with hitting the magic number every day: 10,000 steps. A lot of days I’d make it to 10,000 or over simple because of my route around the city and my workouts. Other days I’d fall just short, and that’s when you’d catch me jogging in place to get those last 200 steps. It was a good barometer for me to tell when I was spending too much time sitting at a computer or taking the elevator instead of stairs.

I recently got another pedometer for free and wore it for a few days last week. WOW. Had I let myself get complacent. My new job requires a lot less walking from El stop to work, and it’s often hard for me to step away from my desk for a quick walk. These might not be things entirely within my control, but I certainly can make small changes elsewhere to make up for that.

I’m going to keep wearing my pedometer to push myself to spend more time as I know I need to. Not sitting and moving a mouse for eight hours straight, but getting my blood pumping and stretching my body. This time I might not be so obsessed with the numbers on the pedometer, but use it more as a way to make sure I don’t head back to that spot where I was this past winter. I mean sure, I might have caught up on a lot of Gossip Girl, but I didn’t come out on the other side feeling or looking like a Queen B who could take over the world.

I’m curious, what are your go-to ways to keep yourself feeling good and like yourself?