...shipwrecked...

Long-distance longevity - JSOnline

I love stories like this...they are such an inspiration. Growing older in the number of years does NOT mean someone has to grow old.

Long-distance longevity - JSOnline.

Ruebl is 90 years old, whippet-thin, and looks at least a decade younger.

On Saturday, he plans to run Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minn. Officials say he's the oldest runner to ever enter the popular marathon on the north shore of Lake Superior.

Well...FINALLY! I was shipwrecked...until I got derailed!

I have no idea where the past 2 months have gone. It's been a fog of pain from the ankle injury (which is still not totally healed) and head colds and computer problems and worrying news from home. And in the midst of all of that, I've been completely derailed by life. A colleague at work has talked about how women walk a tightrope most days and that once you fall off, it can takes ages to get back on! It's so true.

I've thought often about the blogs and have stockpiled a few ideas. And yet...actually sitting down to write has escaped me. I have this idea that I should somehow delete this blog and start over. But...NO! I liked where this one started and I'm still curious where it's leading me. So...in the memory of my previous attempt at stealing back a little extra time in the day, I've decided that from now on...the alarm clock will be set to 5am and I'll use my extra hour and a bit catching up via email with friends and family AND writing in the blogs. Already I can feel that it's a good thing...I actually woke up and got up around 4:45 and I'm really feeling ready for the day.

There I was...derailed for weeks. But I'm very happy to report that I am once-again now very happily shipwrecked...and it's a lovely place to be. The words in the following image (thank you Karen!) have never been more accurate...shipwrecked in the English countryside brings a smile to my face!

YIKES! How did THIS happen?

It's been almost two weeks since I've written in here...SHOCKING! In fairness to me, I've spent most of that time with my ankle elevated and following doctor's orders to help the broken ligaments. And beyond that, we were a two laptop family until a week-and-a-half ago or so. It's amazing to me how quickly I insisted that hubby should use the one remaining laptop. Isn't that the way? Is it a "female" thing to go out of the way to make sure the other person in the house is happy? Perhaps not a female thing but I certainly have found myself following that pattern - he needed the working laptop for job applications, lesson planning (he's a teacher) and his writing (he's also a writer). And so...blogs had to be put on hold.

The good news is that the 37 day challenge was NOT put on hold. The challenge (in case anyone needs to be reminded) was to get up earlier than necessary every day for 37 days. Now - I'm not perfect but I have managed to train myself to think 6am-ish is a perfectly reasonable time to get up every day. I'm especially pleased that I've begun to wake up WITHOUT the alarm!  The other aspects of my plan (take pic every day, enjoy a little silence in the am, etc.) are gaining momentum.

I've learned quite a bit about myself during this wee experiment. I'm phrasing everything in a positive light to maintain my committments...

• I'm very good at being inconsistant - I'd like to get up at the same time every day and not just earlier in a general way.
• I'm good at multi-tasking and adding to personal challenges - and now I'm going to make it a goal to become equally good at focusing on single personal challenges.
• I can easily allow myself to be distracted from a goal - and now I'm going to make it a priority to become someone who is NOT easily distracted from a goal.

So really - I'm almost through my first 37day challenge and I'm already planning for the next one!  It's all about the numbers 3 and 7 this year! :-)

Monday...

There really isn't a great deal of news around the cottage at the moment. I'm still nursing the shipwrecked ankle. I'm still working on Chapter Four of the PhD. And, more than likely, I'll be working at home again this week.

Still - I was up with the alarm again today so I've stolen one more hour as a result of my 37day challenge!! This makes me VERY happy about life.  And I've stuck with my morning photo idea. I've even added an album to this blog which is the Daily Photos file in the upper right-hand corner of the page.  Today's photo isn't particular unique or pretty but as the description will tell you, it's a very familiar image in my life! 

I'm very pleased that I've continued to steal a bit of time each day. Yesterday wasn't a reflection of that...but then we'd been on a road tip to Wales the day before and weren't back until 1:30 in the AM. I thought that probably deserved a bit of sleep without alarm clocks. That said, by 7ish I was really just drifting in and out. My internal clock has begun to shift which I love!

Other Time Thief thoughts...with my extra bit of time each day, I've worked in the daily photo which I've already mentioned. But I've also worked in a bit of time to write in my journal and to make a daily gratitude entry. These are still a bit hit-and-miss at the moment but my goal is that by the end of this 37day challenge, I'll be doing the following Morning Meditations daily...

·         Complete gratitude journal entry – 5 things to be grateful about for that day & to keep in mind for the day.

·         Write in personal journal.

·         Plan my day.

·         Enjoy silence.

·         Review previous journal entries.

·         Take a morning photograph for ...shipwrecked... blog.

130 year old woman...I need to learn everything I can about her!!!

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Kazakhstan's famous '130-year-old'.

And another link...proving that women are stronger and have more stamina...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_verified_oldest_people

And last but not least...my grandmother (mom's side) turned 94 on Friday 10th of April. She was born in 1915 and is one of the most amazing people it has ever been my priviledge to know. She is my hero, my idol and my inspiration! The women on my mom's side of the family live forever...it bodes well for my plan to live to 112! 

This is what happens when you SHIPWRECK your ankle!

Last weekend, I wrecked my ankle walking through a farm field looking for a missing, rebellious cat. As a result, I've been working from home, propped for days on the sofa with my ankle elevated watching it turn a variety of colours and learning that...YES...your toes can in fact swell up! One outcome of this has been the newly revamped blog now living at TypePad instead of Blogger. I did this as part of a larger blogging project in an effort to keep things simple. [NB: Larger blogging project to be discussed more openly very soon! ] Suffice it to say that now all blog spots will be located in one place. I'll be informing my amazing followers on the old space via FB any minute now.

You can't help but notice that this layout/design is a bit more stark - though I like to think of it as a bit more streamlined, a bit more tidy to look at. The challenge now is to introduce some colour in both the photograhs and the text content! This is no small challenge!

Today's very colourful photo is here just because I love it. It is my visual version of Spring - and I am so glad to see Spring entering the game! Yes - it is my feet...my favourite pair of Birkenstock sandles and a fabulous nail colour! You can't help but have a good day when this is the way your feet look in the morning on the way to work!

 

Those of you who may be following my 37 day challenge, please note that I have done pretty well getting up earlier than necessary throughout my recovery from the torn ligaments and wrecked ankle. Ok - mostly this has been to get up and take pain killers or get an ice pack or wrap or unwrap the ankle depending on how it's feeling. That said - I was up and at 'em at 6:30 this am and have gone full tilt since.

With this newly redesigned blog space, I've decided to set myself a subsidiary task with my morning's stolen time...take a colourful photo daily...sometimes to be added to the blog! So here you go - Day 13 of the 37 Day Challenge...Day One on the take a colour photo challenge. For today - I'm going to count the one above...I have no interest in the colours of my right foot at the moment!

Confession of a time thief...

I have spent my life being careless with Time. My 37 day challenge is to get up earlier than necessary every day for 37 days and my reason for doing this is to become more careful about my usage of Time. Once completed, the challenge will (hopefully...) have taught me about being a morning person. Becoming a true morning person will (hopefully...) have given me more Time in the day, Time for myself. I can also already see that this first week has made me very aware of Time, how I spend it and how I want to spend it...it has taught me what works for me and what really doesn't. Being aware of Time...it seems like the first lesson learned in this challenge.

In this challenge so far, I've managed to stick to it every day but today. Oh well - one day off the proverbial wagon in 7 is not bad and I'm not going to kick myself over this. Besides - every day is day one...so I can just start up again tomorrow. I have experimented during this past week with how to use this additional Time that I have stolen from the night. Result? Getting up earlier in the AM to work on the PhD just put the PhD in mind all day leading to blind, panic attacks about it by the end of the day. Not good.

So this next week - my stolen hours will be spent exercising. Get up...ride the torture device (a combo cross-traininer/stationary bike) and then do a 10 minute yoga moment and a plethora (love that word!) of ab and stomach exercises. Something tells me already that spending my stolen time exercising will actually have the knock-on effect of helping me to focus better on the PhD in the evenings. Let's hope so...that particular project needs all the help it can get!

RealAge...YIKES!!!

OK - it would seem that I have begun this journey not a moment too soon! I took the RealAge test. Outcome??? On the calendar, I'm 37.4. My "RealAGE??? Wait for it...46.9!!! WTF?!?! Now THAT is one hell of a shipwreck!

Keep breathing...long, slow deep breaths...must not pass out and bang my forehead on the keyboard. Go on...take the test! I dare you!

Tools of the trade - the trade of living forever-ish...

Living forever is a process. It is one which will require a number of changes. I've been researching these for the past couple of weeks and I'll be using the following:

http://www.wikihow.com/Live-a-Long-Life
http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Old-Without-Feeling-Old
http://www.realage.com/homepage.aspx - I'm going to take the test and see what happens.
http://www.fitbug.com/uk.sales - I'm not selling you anything! I joined up thru my work for this.
http://www.101thingstodo.co.uk/home.html - I found the book in a 2nd hand bookstore over here. I'm not convinced of all 101 things so I'm replacing a few but it's a fabulous place to start!
http://www.thingstodo.oncelife.com.au/ - Similar but a bit different...you get the idea!
http://www.happier.com/form.htm - Because we can always learn more tools for the one goal in life...to be happy!

Live forever-ish...do the math...

rom a mathematical perspective, I would like to think that these first 37 years are simply the first one-third of my life. With that in mind, I'd really like like to live until I'm 112. That way I still have two-thirds of my life to look forward to. And I do look forward to every second!!! I have so many things I still want to do, so many things that I WILL do.

Now obviously - it's a difficult thing to predict how long we will live in this life. But I do think it's possible to change your outlook and your daily habits so that you can live just as long as possible. The PhD student in me has begun the research at the following website...this is just the beginning of the next 75 glorious years! I'm so excited to see what happens next!