Moderation Monday Update

 

Time to come clean and share my success and fails in this quest for balance, intentionality, and purpose.  Moderation is my tool. There are crossovers in some of the categories of time, money, exercise, and food. This post serves no value for you the reader, but it is keeping me honest.  My apologies.

Time:
I did a much better job tackling the daily mess of life, and woke up on Saturday morning with no leftover dishes, pots, pans or other clutter from the night before in the kitchen. I balanced a few extra hours in at work due to some aggressive time lines, had to leave early one afternoon to taxi the off spring, but balanced that with a few easy meals to make up the time difference like frozen pizza one night, and a spinach salad with leftover chicken another. DD#2 had two soccer games, practice, and a violin lesson last week, so there was a lot of running, but I timed a few errands with that running. I did binge watch a bit on Sunday night, since it was a rainy evening, and watched back to back movies. They were both Norwegian films, so gave a little homage to my maternal grandfather's homeland. I would recommend both, though Head Hunters was quite dark and  violent, a bit far fetched, but an interesting story.  The other, which starred the same Norwegian actor, was based on real events that occurred, or may have occurred this way, from the oil boom off the Norwegian coast, titled Pioneers. I can easily get sucked into watching hours of foreign films.

Money:
I passed on buying a full priced dress slip at Target the other day. While I do need a new one, it wasn't quite what I wanted, but the only style they had in my size. I decided to continue to make due with my separate camisole and half slip until I find what I want, or there is a sale, or both. I packed a lunch 3 of 5 days this week, had a working lunch which was provided on Wednesday, and then shared a wrap sandwich with a colleague on Friday. I don't regret the  purchased lunch because it was the result of walking with a new coworker over to the local Target deli, and we were able to have a good get to know you conversation.  They sell half wraps, but didn't have any left in the case, but did have a full one, so we decided to split, my treat.  It was a better deal as a half wrap was $2.50, but full just $4.00. this meant I wasn't tempted to eat both halves.

I caved on Tuesday and not only ate a crappy breakfast sandwich for Burger King, I paid $2.16 for it with a cup of coffee. I also bought a novel at the dollar store when I stopped for envelopes and greeting cards.  It looked like a pretty good book, but I probably could have got it from the library. We also passed on paying full price for movie tickets to see the new Jurassic Park movie that opened on Friday. It will be the same movie on Tuesday when tickets are $2 cheaper, and we get free popcorn through our movie rewards card. Someone could argue that it will be cheaper yet when it comes out on video in 6 months-but this is Jurassic Park.  No arguments.

Exercise:
I continue to build in more steps into my days, but intentional exercise has been a bust.  This is an area that must improve if I am going to shift some of these pounds.

Food:
This was probably my most successful category in embracing moderation. I increased my fresh fruit and vegetable consumption, but still allowed myself some pasta and bread.  I made sandwiches with  just one piece of bread, and for breakfast kept the cereal bowl to an actual serving, or only one slice of toast or half a bagel.  With eating whole fruit, as opposed to drinking juice, I was adequately nourished for the morning. An alfresco pasta dinner on Friday night, accompanied with a few cocktails was my big indulgence, but I ate lighter earlier in the day, and on Saturday morning (other than to taste my onion marmalade) stuck to low fat and sugar yogurt and a banana for breakfast. I indulged in 6 Oreo's on Thursday night, but honestly, after having them, I didn't really feel temptation, until my daughter made some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  I kept myself to enjoying just one each day on Saturday and Sunday-moderation.

Anyone else out there practicing your own version of moderation? What trade offs have you made in seeking balance?

Moderation...It's a Tough Word

credit to licdn.com

All things in moderation, right? This is the simple key to a well-balanced, wholehearted life, I am told. A little treat every nice in a while won't add the pounds, but don't eat that whole bag of Cheetos’s. A glass of red wine is good for heart health, but drinking the whole bottle raises a few eye brows and done too often sends both liver and mind to dark places. Work hard to earn a living, but not so hard that I forget what I'm earning a living for. Using Netflix and Hulu make it easy to schedule in an hour or two for a movie or my favorite television program, but also to binge watch my afternoon away on occasion. Volunteering for an organization, but then being a push over and bearing the weight of the project myself. Oh, it is so tough sometimes to keep things in moderation. In all things, it helps to have goals, and from those goals, establish priorities for where I spend my time, energy, money, and even calories, though the planning is just that if it lacks execution.

My blog is supposed to help me stay grounded. My tagline...an attempt to live with focus, purpose, and simplicity with less guilt, stares at me every day when I log in. But I'm a bit of a liar. I have guilt-lots and lots of guilt. For instance right now, I have a kitchen that looks like a tornado went through several file cabinets and pulled the contents out, and deposited them all over my kitchen table. On my way to make coffee this morning, my foot stuck for 1/2 a second to something unseen, but definitely felt on the floor. I had a hard time remember the last time I actually mopped the floor, corner to corner. Instead of just being ok with that right now, I am avoiding the kitchen entirely this afternoon. Escapism is my response to guilt. What would happen I wonder if I put my guilt and escapism on a moderation plan? Would I feel less guilt if I just spent a few minutes tackling the tornado zone, even if all I accomplished was to get the items that could be recycled into the recycle bin, and the things that we need to keep into a "to be filed" pile? Would I be content to reward myself with one nice cocktail or glass of wine on the deck tonight after taking a walk, a mile or so farther than I normally do?

This week I will see how well I can work on better moderation, less escapism, and less guilt when I choose something I want to do, over something I should be doing. The other side of the equation, I will challenge myself  to push gratification off, and get one more thing done, whether that is another load of laundry, a healthy meal prepared, or a long walk with a friend. Small, individualized accomplishments, are accomplishments none the less. I've been trying to bite off mentally more than I can chew, but will give small, focused intentional actions a try. What about you? How do you find balance and moderation?