Half the year’s gone, plus five days, so it’s a good time to check in with my various fitness and other habits. I wrote about my June bicycling in my previous post, June 2021 Strava Bicycling Stats. It’s been a challenging time I’m sure for everyone. There was that riot and uncertainty about US democracy itself surviving the long-needed change in presidents and administrations. The pandemic hasn’t just disappeared, thanks largely to the maskholes who think they know more than medical doctors and those unwilling to get vaccinated for usually specious reasons. The economic recovery may be great for Wall Street, but for many on Main Street, low wages that simply doesn’t pay the bills, continued exposure to the risks of COVID, competition for jobs, and problems like high cost of child care and housing, make it a difficult time. For this dude, numerous obstacles have made progress difficult, but I’ve persisted with my various activities as I am able. So here’s my update, for what it’s worth.

FLUTE. After a strong start to the year, practicing 30′ a few times a week, then skipping a month, I’ve come back strong with daily 15′ practice. I can’t say I’ve made a lot of progress, but I’m still doing it, and I still enjoy it. While I don’t see myself playing for anyone else, it would be nice if I got to a level where I felt good about doing that. A study I saw said that playing music is good for memory, so there is a health application in addition to doing something creative and fun. There’s no reason I can’t keep playing, so I hope to do so. If I miss a day or go back to 30′ alternate days, that would be OK, too.

FOAM ROLLING. I’ve added 5′ to my daily yoga practice, and see no reason to stop. I may even add 5′ when I get up.

FOOD. After a good five and a half months of logging virtually everything I put my food hole on My Fitness Pal, I quit. After the initial five or so pounds of weight loss, the scale wasn’t budging. It was just tedious to measure everything and then enter the data, even if I’d recently eaten it. A nutritionist also told me I didn’t have to do it, which I think is bad advice, actually. But then I realized I could still watch my portion sizes and just be mindful about not overeating and having my weight balloon up. So far, so good. After two doctors’ visits three weeks apart, the number on the scale was exactly the same. I continue to eat a salad every single day, too, with no noticeable effect. I do continue to measure everything.

READ. This one is going well. I read a book at least 30 minutes a day, sometimes more especially when I’m tired and trying to find the energy for my bike ride. I’m reading mostly fiction thrillers (Lee Pace, David Baldacci, John Grisham) because it’s more fun than non-fiction self-help, and it’s summer. I keep hearing about summer reading lists like everyone in America owns a part of a time-share condo or house on the beach. Yeah, right, you elitist pricks. Anyway, books are great, and they’re free at the library or in the Free Little Libraries.

RESISTANCE BANDS. I quit this sometime in June, too. I had a bit of an arm strain that made me take a week off, but by the time I got around to it, I was too tired. Sometimes, things fall apart in life and in fitness goals. I could see myself getting back into it if I could do it in the mornings, but the main reason I was doing it was to work up to getting my arms ready to get back in the pool.

SWIM. I got back in the pool on July 1. It had been 18 months since I worked up to a mile swim before coronavirus shut everything down. It was for about 18 minutes and I didn’t get very far because of the aforementioned lack of arm strength. I wrote about my progress last year in How Are Your Pool Workouts Going, Dude? Splendid, Sublime and Swimmingly. The issue is whether I can get a lane, which are often shared or restricted due to kids classes and so on; they’re also closed early when it rains because the lifeguards are paranoid about lightning, I hope to go so a few times a week, though, as energy and time permit, and slowly work up.

WALK. This habit I began back in 2018 and I continue to do daily, with only a few misses. Because of my frequent drops in energy, I gave up trying to make it 1.5 miles, and just go for 30 minutes, which is usually 1.2 miles. Someday maybe I’ll speed up again but I don’t see myself running because I get shin splints easily. As a fathlete, running is not good for my feet or other joints, either. Plus, a recent study said that walking is as good for you as running. So there.

WRITE. Obviously, I’m writing this and have continued three posts most weeks. It’s often more than 30′, too. On alternate days, I journal. In the recent post 2 Blog or Not 2 Blog? I considered reducing the time I blog to focus on the book. I think that may very well happen, especially if I get serious about revising it. In fact, I have to decide about taking a short course through the Writers League of Texas, which costs money. But after all this time and not much progress even after one revision, I am not sure I can afford NOT to do it. Whatever I do, I intend to keep writing, and that will expand if I do the class.

YOGA. I just do it for 30′ every day, no matter what. I’m continuing 5′ of guided meditation after since I’m already using the Insight Meditation Timer.

All told, that’s about six hours a day. I don’t know how long I can sustain all these healthy and creative practices depending on health and eventually having to generate income, but I hope to keep going as long as possible. Meanwhile, there are plenty of other areas I could improve, namely sleep. That remains my old nemesis for many reasons. No one’s perfect. We’re each a work in progress. Life goes on. Just Keep Livin’.

How YOU doin’ with your new years’ resolutions?

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