Last week, I began participating in The Weekly Chase, an incentive started by fellow blogger Melissa at Live Love and Run, where we log weekly goals and share them with others for accountability.

Here is a recap of my goals from last week and progress report:

1)   Continue my plank a day:  All good here

2)   Veganize my home:  Done.  I have been vegan as of Tuesday of last week. 

3)   Run my fastest mile ever!  Last week I caught a virus and had to cut back on the intensity of my runs.  This week for sure, I will get a time on my mile!

4)   Stay faithful to my fall half marathon training.  I skipped one scheduled training run due to being sick.

5)   Be mindful of my words:  Ummm…trying! 

6)   Schedule more time with my kids.  I have tweaked this goal so that I actually schedule time for me.  If I can get in a few hours a day to run, blog, practice yoga, and take care of the house, I will happily belong to my kids for the rest of the day.  I have asked them to give me one hour of “office time” in the morning so that I can complete some blogging tasks.  On the days that I have had this hour, I have found myself much more willing to unplug later.

Here’s what’s on tap for the week ahead:

1)   Continue my plank a day: I have organized a plank-a-day challenge among my friends, so for the month of July, I will be motivating others to do a plank a day as well.  If you are looking for a way to build up your core strength, I urge you to hold one plank for as long as you can every day.  And of course, you are welcome to join our challenge!

2)   Continue training for my next 13.1

3)   Time a mile running:  As mentioned last week, this takes a little planning since I am Stone Ages Girl who does not own a GPS watch!

4)   Adjust my sleeping schedule:  I have been sacrificing sleep the past few weeks to cram in more tasks every day, and it is beginning to wear me down.  I am certain that it has contributed to my Mom Fail, since not sleeping makes me cranky, and may have contributed to why I got sick.  When I don’t take care of my body, everything else starts to fall apart.  Sleep is too important to skimp on.

5)   Meditate: I began meditating three years ago, and the effects have been life changing.  Meditation teaches us how to detach from our thoughts and observe our thoughts as an objective witness.  When we learn to detach from our thoughts, they have less power over us.  When this happens, our whole world opens up.  For the most part, I am faithful to my meditation practice, but I need to re-commit to it every day.  Because any “fail” that I have had in the past few weeks, ie, not being mindful with words, yelling at my kids, etc. is more likely to dissipate when I am grounded in my meditation practice.   Sometimes, it feels so difficult to sit still, even for five to ten minutes!  But it is most important five to ten minutes of my day.

Part of understanding ourselves is knowing what goals to set, what goals to stick with, and what goals to let go of. 

I firmly believe that sometimes, letting go of a goal is more of a triumph that sticking with a goal.  Being able to say “no, this really isn’t for me,” is empowering under the right circumstances.  As an athlete, and a huge overachiever, this concept was tough for me to get, and even tougher to live by, but sometimes, saying “no,” instead of pushing through until the bitter end, at all costs, is the right thing to do.

Have you ever set a goal for yourself that seemed urgently important at that moment but over time, you realized wasn’t working? 

Namaste, Divas!

© 2012 Ilene Evans

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