Happiness is in your own hands

I keep thinking that I need to write the Mother of All Epiphany posts. I keep seeing other bloggers who were at Fitbloggin doing it...shouldn't I? Well, perhaps I should, but I just don't know that I've got it in me right now and I keep not posting at all because I don't have it all processed yet, so let's just write a "how am I doing?" post for now and let it go.

How am I doing? I'm doing pretty well, I think. My flight home on Sunday took a little longer than expected but I made it home safely and I had the next day off, so it worked out just fine.

I've walked on the treadmill for over 30 minutes on six of the last seven days and I'm really proud of that. A big part of taking care of your diabetes is getting enough exercise every day, so that's got to become a lifetime habit for me. And because having a goal is always a good way to keep yourself (or is it just me?) honest, I'm using the upcoming Disneyland Family Fun Run 5K as a reason to start picking up the pace on my walking. You see, because they've got to get all of us out of the parks in time to open them to waiting guests, they have a requirement that all participants maintain a 16 minute per mile or better pace. My normal pace for a 5K is about 20 minutes per mile, so I'll need to speed up significantly if I want to be allowed to finish. And I definitely DO want to be allowed to finish, so I've already started increasing my speed by 10% every three weeks and will continue to do so right through the end of August.

I've been eating well since coming home. Smaller portions of good, nourishing, minimally-processed, organic foods for the most part. When I've eaten out, it's been at places that I know will have whole grain and lean protein options for me. I've started observing how the foods that I eat make me feel, physically, as a prelude to starting on an Intuitive Eating path, and I'm realizing that my body doesn't like a lot of the things that my mind does. Like rich or greasy foods. Like nuts. (Big time bummer.)

About the depression, I still have the odd moment here and there when I beat myself up for being human and flawed, and I even had one of them right in the midst of Fitbloggin, but I think I'm recognizing and stopping that crap a lot faster now, and that's progress. I can't control what life throws at me nor what that might trigger inside my head, but I can start to challenge myself to move beyond my past and create new, healthier habits for the rest of my life.