A bad weekend

I complained a lot last weekend. It was his fault. It was their fault. In the end I always put the blame on myself. It was my fault actually. You can’t expect others to change, and they won’t. You must find a way yourself. Why are you complaining? Helpless. Hopeless. Self condemning. We already know that we should be grateful but I just can’t, I was overwhelmed by every complaint and dissatisfaction. Frustration took control over me.

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” ALL.

How? Holy Spirit, come and take over. Let the emotions lose their power.

Need to learn from King David:

“I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.”

The moment cake taste best is before you buy it

Cake always looks delicious on the shelf, but doesn’t taste as good when I try it. This happened most of the time. It’s bloating. Plus, I tend to eat more when the food is there, finishing them before the right time. I should not buy cakes or junk food again. That’s called emotional eating: what I really want is cookie or chips. But the true hunger should be feeding the belly, not craving for something sweet. Hence the desire to eat does not equal to feeling hungry.

No-no list:

Cakes

Chips

Dried fish fillet(my favourite)

Biscuits

Etc.

Instead, I will consume more fruits and beans. If I want snacks, I should start making them myself; such as sandwiches, sushi rolls, and perhaps cakes. Hmm, seems like a lot of inconvenience…

Keep going!

I kept my workout plan 5/7 for last week. Where did I stop myself? “I have no time.”

I knew it was an excuse, haha, I just don’t want to do it today.

I will change my workout plan to weekdays only, and leave my weekends to my family.

On the other hand, I’ve been an “extra good” daughter for the weekend. I bought some food, did some cleaning, and some cooking. I could’ve done better if I have a proper to-do list for the weekend. I’m beginning to write down the baby steps I could take in de-cluttering my house. 

Lauren Zander - No One is Coming to Save You!...

Don’t try hard; try with your heart

“I decided to do it.” My heart feels lighter. I choose to do it. So I will do it happily.

No more of this: “Ugh. I need to force myself to do it.” How dreadful! “If I do it every day, gold will fall from the sky.” (Even though it sounds absurd)Silly me, gold is always a better motivation than a bikini body.

I’m still working on 30 days HIIT challenge, the only difference is that I’m doing it happily.

Don’t try hard; try with your heart, try wholeheartedly.

Do not focus on your pain

“I feel like skipping HIIT today.” I can have a lot of reason not to do it so I just grab myself to do it. And I’m glad I did. Never did I know what I would miss by skipping the 10-minute.

The exercise was just doing plank. When I was doing the 45 seconds plank, I felt my abs.

“My abs can’t hold it anymore, I want to let go” “Just hang in there a few seconds” My mind was blank. I hold on.

In a blink of eyes I came back to mind and I discovered: “Wow, I don’t feel my abs anymore, I can hold on for even longer.” Epiphany!

Whenever you feel hurt, do not run away from it. Remember when you focus on your pain, you only help to intensify the hurt you feel. Instead, face it, accept it, until you can live with it, till then it has lost its control over you. Never let the same hurt hit you down again.

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:4

Less is more

I’m going to try HIIT 30 days programme(Got it from Neilarey.com) Greater training in less time. Perfect for those who are either busy or lazy, just like me. The program that I choose takes only about 10 minutes each day. Equipment free. Sounds too simple? Well whenever I started some project very ambitiously they never work. 10 minutes? I can do it. I hope it works. No. I will work on it. I don’t want to find myself looking back at this post and sigh: “Oh! Will never work”. The feeling of a loser. What is the use of this blog? Accountability. After all I need accountability.

In HIIT, you need to push yourself as hard as you can in the short period. So for my blog post, I’m trying to use fewer words as I can for the greatest impact. Hope this blog would be an inspiration to others. I love to hear about it.

Why aren’t you workout today?

For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (Romans 7:15)

I struggle with exercising.

I know people who can spend 2 hours every day in the gym, cook every meal, to ensure the nourishment of their body. But why not me?

“I’m tired. I need rest. I want to lie down. I am lazy.”

Ridiculous. You get tired easily because you don’t move. The cure to fatigue is to exercise.

“I have no plan for workout. I can’t decide which exercise to do for today.”

Then design a plan and stick to it. If it doesn’t work, change it.

After one day of workout, “Muscle pain.”

Active recovery, which is light exercise during the recovery phase can stimulate blood flow to the muscles to help reduce muscle pain. 

“I am a couch potato.”

You are what you think you are. Prove it otherwise.

If you were given $5000, would you do it? “Yes!”

But you won’t do it for health? Are you fit enough? Are you satisfied with your body size? “Well,….”

What is your excuse today? They’re sick. From now on, no more hesitation, simply do it.

If you want a strong body, you know the price you have to pay.

It is hard, but perfect body line is worth fighting for. Plus, I can reward myself with more tasty food.  

Fighting!

“If I used being busy as an excuse not to run, I’d never run again. I have only a few reasons to keep on running, and a truckload of them to quit.” –Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul- Psalms 19:7

As a Christian, others would have thought that I have read through my bible or have been reading it every day. I don’t, but that was my wish since I was young.

In the beginning of the year, I started Bible In One Year(BIOY). I downloaded the app, read it every day, until sickness stopped me. I have no mood or energy to read the app. My illness lasted for a long period. It seemed like impossible to catch up so I abandoned the plan altogether. Maybe the reading style doesn’t suit me, where every time I have to read a portion of Old Testament, Psalms and New Testament altogether. There are many times I read for the sake of finishing it. It became a duty; dull and boring.

Till recently, I saw that there is such a plan called “Reading through New Testament in 90 days”. Doing something for 90 days seems a lot easier than 365 days. So I took the 90 days challenge. There are 260 chapters in the New Testament, so I only need to read 2-3 chapters a day. I printed out the plan(you can get it online easily) and put it in my bible. I prefer reading hardcopy bible over phone. I tick the chart every night after I finish the reading for the day. I make sure to catch up whenever I missed it.

So far, I’m in the 3^rd week, and I am reading faster than planned.

Surprisingly, almost every day there is a verse that’s talking to me. God is good.

God didn’t change my situation, but he changes my heart. <3 

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8 

Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good

Blogging never comes to my mind; I wouldn’t know what to say. Until I took the first step, then I realized wow, I didn’t know that I have so much to say. I actually enjoy it. It is not as easy as I first thought it would be, partly due to my perfectionist character. I want a good looking design. I want this colour. I want that font. I want a background that matches my theme. I want a good presentation, and I want … …etc

Thanks to Google, I managed to find out how to work on those. And each time, I figured out new features which I can add on later. I added new pages. I reread and check my work a few times before hitting “Publish”. (Trying to be perfect again, huh?)

 “You don’t have to be good at everything.” Still, I get slightly upset if I saw a grammatical mistake or anything that looks unprofessional in my blog posts, even though no one is reading it. I tempted to repost but no, I have to accept my flaws. Making mistakes is a part of learning.

I’ve read enough to figure out that perfectionism is a reflection of inferiority complex. What thoughts came out when I see those imperfections? I could’ve done better. Deep down inside, it actually means I’m not good enough. People will notice my grammar mistakes. They’ll notice that I’m not meticulous.

The truth is, people don’t judge as much as I think. Now I’m opened. I’ll be glad if you could point out my mistakes so that I could learn.

I love my own work, and I admire them, whether it’s a piece of art or writing, just as how God views His own creation. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.  My work is good, not because it is perfect, but because it was mine, the effort I put in it makes it good in my eyes.

 “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”- Secrets of Adulthood, Gretchen Rubin