My current musings

Transrationalism

Pictures of perfection make me sick and wicked.
— Jane Austen

This post discusses insecurities and goal setting. So, naturally I wanted to start by sharing some not-so-perfect pic of me. Here are some before and in-progress pictures of my pictures on Instagram. You're not following me on Instagram you say? What are you waiting for? 

 

Many of you (myself included) have been wondering why it has taken me so long to actually sit down and write a new blog post. Physical lack of energy aside, I have been fighting with my insecurities. To be honest, it took me so long to post again because I was scared of putting myself out there. I was scared that no one would want to read anything I wrote. I was afraid that this leap of faith I took would not amount to anything… Wait, I’m still worried about that.

 

But mostly I was afraid of what I had to do next. Okay, so I knew what I had to next: actually sit down and write something! Then I started wondering who would really want to read what I wrote. How bored must they be in their lives that my small blog is all they have left? How could they possibly have run out of everything else in their lives to read? 

So by now, you’re probably thinking, “Enough with the questions!!” It’s funny how we’re frequently struggling with our insecurities, even as we become more adept at #adulting. Why is it in the face of big changes that our insecurities come out the most? I wanted to make positive changes and even then, do my demons come out to play. After much yoga-ing, running, and walking my dogs, I came to to the conclusion that this outlet (meaning blogging) is a way to for me to express myself and to show the world (or the 5 people who are reading this), that all those Facebook “Likes” and Instagram double taps comes with a lot of work.


Did anyone read that Jane Austen quote I started off with? I love that quote. As I get more involved on Instagram, I find myself surrounded of pictures of perfection, and instead of finding it inspiring, I often find them discouraging. I am never going to look long and lean like pictures of some of those beautiful yoginis on Instagram. I am still struggling to stick some many poses, consistently get a 10 minute mile for long runs, and overall making the whole process look like a piece of cake. In addition, I have this profound love affair with pizza. I know, I know, don’t roll your eyes at how I’m supposed to be all healthy and fit; in my defense, I never claimed to be either. While I am a proud vegetarian, this is probably why I could never be vegan. So, if we ever get in a fight, don’t try to butter me up with flowers or chocolate. Pizza or yoga leggings will do the trick. (insert pizza emoji here)

I digress. In addition to my insecurities, I have this bad habit of aggrandizing things in my life. Instead of having to do the following:

 
 

Here’s what it turns into in my mind:

 
 

 

See what happened there? The task turned into such a grand spectacle that the priority of realistically being able to get it done moved farther and farther in the back of my head. Because, how much cooler and self-satisfying would it be if I could accomplish the second list rather than the first one? Soon enough, the tasks themselves became nearly impossible to accomplish. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying to not have standards; I just cannot keep raising those standards until I meet current ones. I worried so much about the outcomes of the tasks that I seemed to have forgotten that needed to get over myself and just do the task.

Do y’all ever do that? I know I do, especially when I am feeling insecure or struggling in self-confidence. I go from placing a simple goal on a to-do list to placing that same goal on a pedestal, forgetting that now all the necessary, intermediary steps required to achieve that larger goal have now become just as gargantuan. I imagine that many of us do that, especially if we have high expectations of ourselves AND if we’re still seeking for our passions to grow into something more in our lives (and hopefully, those same passions will have the ability to pay the bills!).

So, in a failed effort to keep my goals simple, here is what I have started working on in February:


  1. Actually write my journal posts for my teacher training homework. I say "actually" because I'm not a fan of journaling. 

  2. Complete my 29-day yoga challenge with Joy Yoga. You can follow my progress on my Instagram and Facebook pages. :-D

  3. Continue working on month 2 of a 12 month running challenge laid out on No Meat Athlete’s website. If you’re intrigued, you can find it here. It’s a pretty amazing plan to become a faster, injury-free runner.

  4. Work on getting more sleep and not falling asleep on the couch to reruns of NCIS, and lastly

  5. Keep myself accountable for realistic tasks so I can maintain positive thoughts about myself.


Will it work out beautifully and flawlessly as I imagined? Hopefully. Will I break down if it doesn’t? The last (unofficial) challenge to myself is to not break down and continually look for an alternative.

Thanks for sticking around to the end. I know that was more of an unorganized mess than a post with a purpose. What do you do to keep your life in check? Would love to hear some of y’all’s thoughts!

 
Learning about spinal twists during teacher training. 

Learning about spinal twists during teacher training. 

 

With Love,

Aum Shantih Shantih Shantih


Metamorphosis

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?
— Henry David Thoreau
 

This video moves me to my core, and I thought it appropriate to share as I start my new ventures. 

 

Have you ever sunk down into your couch, and as your are Netflix and chllin’, realized that there's something about your life that’s not that satisfying? I mean, watching 10 season of a sitcom from start to finish is a feat in itself, but at some point, the butt imprint on the couch needs to air out. That’s kind of where I was in November last year. I was incredibly busy with life, and when I crashed to relax, I would crash hard. I started noticing what was actually keeping me busy was actually sucking the life out of me. The things I gained most happiness from was my continued yoga practice and the few times I was able to get on a road and run, even for 20 min.

 

In November, I participated in a couple of yoga challenges and did a few trail runs in Texas with Trail Racing Over Texas (Check out this awesome trail racing company here!), and just being outside and finding ways to seek peace in stress allowed me to come to a few realizations.


  1. I really do like yoga. After practicing it for a year and noticing connections, both physical and spiritually, I want to deepen my knowledge of the subject.

  2. I still want to run, although realistically it might be at a limited capacity since there are other passions I have in my life.

  3. I need to make some big changes in my life, otherwise my life threatened to be just disconnected, meaningless tasks for which I was quickly losing drive to complete..


Write here...

Therefore in December I started working at yoga studio in Houston and I registered to begin a 200 hour Yoga teacher certification in January. Am I expecting this to kick my ass? Absolutely. Am I expecting to question my decision and convince myself it was myopic and selfish? You bet. However, more importantly, am I hoping to grow, be challenged, imbibe changes flawlessly (well, as flawlessly as I can), and deepen my practice of being a functioning human being in society? With every fiber of my body.

So if you are here and perusing, I would love it if you gave me a follow. If you are here and not sure what to think, come back with comments and conversation. My whole objective here is not to offer advice and recommendations, but to share my insights and changes I plan on making in my life with the hope that it inspires/motivates/begins the thought process for things in your life. I will tend to pick up different challenges to do, instagram or otherwise, and post my experience/challenge with them as I progress. I have this fantasy that the people who read this blog will also choose to join in with me, and we will have this supportive group of comrades! If nothing else, my blog will (hopefully) prove to be entertaining. :-)

 

 
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With Love,

Aum Shantih Shantih Shantih