My friend Melanie and I went out for a walk along a walking trail very near her house. It was a perfect place for kids to play adventurous games filled with imagination.
I fully intended to do some movement tonight. My body is starting to feel the need. Instead, I worked late, then took a taxi home. I worked on my German lessons, my online course on the Tudors, and then had some satisfying time in my basement workshop chopping bones with an axe. It was nothing gruesome, just a new pair of bone skates, like these 12th C examples from the Museum of London. Hitting things with an axe turns out to be very therapeutic. It reminded me of this Post from Fit is a Feminist Issue. Sometimes, fitness can be about taking care of your brain and your mental health, not just your body. Sometimes, doing that can be just as exhausting as a tough session at the gym. We need to make time for both. I wrote that last sentence three times trying to find a way to do it without using “need” or “should” or “must”. We already have busy, stressful lives; we don’t need more instructions that point out our (self-perceived) failures. How about: it is okay to give our...
Today was a good day. Since the downing of the Ukrainian Airlines flight in Iran I have been very busy with the response, due to the death of 13 Afghan citizens (for context, I am responsible for Canada’s relations with Afghanistan within the headquarters of my foreign affairs ministry). I also have several other balls in the air with high level visits and briefings on my big project. Several of those pieces fell into place today thanks to the strong analysis and quick action of colleagues on three continents. They made me proud to be a public servant. It has been a very long and difficult week for Canadian and other families, and for everyone helping them to cope with this tragedy. I am consciously trying to celebrate their hard work and dedication, instead of dwelling on the long hours, endless emails, and general confusion as too many people try to handle too many things at once. In the past, I didn’t believe people who said that you could sometimes change your mood just by...
It’s almost 2020 and I have decided to spend the next year shedding things - debt, excess things, bad habits, and hopefully a few pounds. Why? I am an ageing, moderately active person, and am pretty happy with my life. That said: I have too many hobbies and too much stuff to support them; I would like to be able to retire in the next few years, and to do that I must be debt-free; I have an ageing horse that I hope to keep riding for as long as possible; I love to dance, but my knees are getting quite grumpy about the strain I put on them in class; I have wanted to do a 10 km swim for several years, but I broke my shoulder this summer and need to get back into the water to do some serious training; I am a good cook who loves to make healthy things from scratch, but portion control can be an issue. Inspired by https://fitisafeministissue.com/ and https://caitflanders.com/ I have decided to blog for at least year about how I do towards some of these goals...
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