Half physical, half mental

The distinction we make between the physical and the mental is problematic on several levels, but I'm going to go ahead and talk as though it's a straightforward matter.

When I'm eating regular, nutritious, satisfying meals made from real food (i.e. when I'm cooking for myself regularly), my desire to binge goes way way down.  My cravings for desserts are manageable instead of monstrous.

This won't surprise many people, but it surprises me.

Keeping perspective

When I start thinking "how can I cook and exercise today when the house needs cleaning SO badly, the car needs servicing, I need to mail that stuff off?" I know that I've lost perspective.

The house exists to serve me, not the other way around.

The car exists to serve me, not the other way around.

The errands are completed to serve my life; I don't live to complete errands.  I don't live to serve the dry cleaner, the post office, the bank, the store.

It's empowering to put things in their place!  The biggest challenge is keeping them there...

The old me wasn't so great, either

I've been having those days where I cook and eat very well, and get nothing else done.  At least it feels like "nothing".  But that's not entirely accurate; I do get some stuff done.  Not as much as I'd like, but still.

I've been thinking about this more, and have concluded that I always feel like I'm not getting enough done because I compare myself not only to others, but to my OLD SELF.  Namely, the person I was in college.  I always took a full course load, made good grades, did extracurriculars, worked at least one part-time job, volunteered, etc. etc.  I'm not making this comparison in a very direct and conscious way, but I know it's there because I frequently find myself wondering why I'm not more driven, competitive, and goal-oriented, "the way I used to be."  Maybe worrying about it more than wondering about it, to be honest.

True, I'd like to have some of that spark back.

Food pics

This app makes pictures huge! I have to go on my laptop to edit them down. Still though, this is probably the only way I will share photos on a regular basis. Transferring files from my good digital camera to my laptop and creating a separate blog folder is too much hassle when all I want to do is capture particular meals and dishes--seeing homecooked food reminds me how good I feel when I cook for myself instead of grabbing fast food, for example. And a crappy iPhone photo is good enough for that kind of casual visual record. I'm not going to photograph everything I eat, but when the mood strikes and my phone is handy, I will.  Here are some old photos that have been in my phone forever.

(I'm obviously not tech savvy; I can't figure out how to rotate this picture so it's displayed properly, and no idea why my iPhone captured it this way in the first place.)

Testing, testing...

Seeing if I like this iPhone Blogger app for posting pictures, and using the most ridiculous photo I can.  (I keep sending my sister texts with this idiotic looking scarecrow in it--I don't know why it cracks me up so much!)