Health Goal: Building Stamina Age 53

 One way I'm coping with this continuing pandemic pandemonium is by solo - cycling. ✌ Tall words, wow, lols! 😄...Ok, maybe not entirely all solo just yet (?) Mostly, I bike around with my husband, but I've had significant rides were I went at it alone - so proud!  

--- I speak for myself when I tell you, city biking isn't easy ( as it looks). It's surely so not for the faint of heart. Hats off to cycling commuters who brave the perils of  mad swerving cars and bike lane hogging vehicles!  

As for me, I just want to seriously be super strong enough and street 'smarter' enough to intrinsically ease myself onto longer adventures without that constant worrying edge that I might swerve wrong or fall flat, which thankfully hasn't happened. 

And while there's an adolescent like thrill in  navigating busy streets, I have to realistically admit this cycling thing is proving to be a heady challenge in this choked up concrete jungle where we live. 

--- From pictures and videos posted online, cycling in more rural settings appears challenging, but at the same pace, a great deal more leisurely relaxing with landscape rewards of the picturesque.   

I must note one significant positive point about my area though; Street dogs in our hood ( make that - the increasing population of street dogs) don't mind cyclists. The poochies are  super cool and so used to the general havoc, sounds, and chaos of our streets that they don't give riders a passing glance. That's thug life for all!

Going back to me, I was 20 when I last went cycling with my then boyfriend. We'd insanely circle around the PICC grounds in a rental clunker (come rain or shine without a care) and have a total  blast! I thought I'd simply pick up from then and it would be the same super breezy experience at 53. Not quite. There's a clunker still, but it sure isn't the bike!😀

-- Of course, the  boyfriend and I got hitched. It's been 33 years. 

Life was life until the world went pandemic with lockdowns worming through sanity. Cycling is a breakthrough light that pierced this  menacing circumstance.

But here's the thing -- 53 is a long ways back from my 20's. 

Honestly, those decades...it's not like I used up my youth in the gym. I'd do walks and runs in the evenings, plus some yoga or cardio, but I won't pretend I was one for seriously exercising. When it comes to sports, unless it's swimming, which I'm pretty good at, any other activity made me feel awkward and ungraceful. At least, that's how I perceived it all those years. 

So here I am at my age hell bent on defying my limitations!! Cycling isn't just easy free push and pedal, it turns out. I didn't realize  there were specific skills  for starting and stops, plus tough nerve for traffic, and super strength for inclines. I can haggle the first two, but uphill is tricky to conquer. I need a whole lot of strengthening up. I mean, I need clunkers and clunkers of energy! Here's the plan. 

One month goal: September 23 to October 23, 2021--

Exercise 6 days a week. ( I've done it before can do it again - better! ) 

1. Stretching yoga everyday

2. Conquer 5 kilometers on weekdays concentrating on uphill climbs nearby. 

3. Walk 3 kilometers minimum 4x a week

4. 45 minutes stationary bike everyday for the next 2 weeks

5. Weekend bike 15 to 20 kilometers.

6. Strength building band exercise as well as  lifting 4x a week for muscle

Diet: Less sugar, less fried,  rice once a day, no meal after 6 pm,  Drink protein 

-- It's a plan. 

No Burgers in the Mountains

It's not easy being grateful nowadays. I remember a time when I would wake up full of life and bursting with  instant gratitude! The last time I felt this way was...um.. honestly,  2 years ago.  

Yes, full of life and brimming with a tinge of " let's get going attitude"....I'm like that, or, was like that -- a bit bubbly, a bit rose rimmed, and I guess, quite dreamy elevated.

 Not for a long while now. 

Instead,  I open my eyes to a fog of trepidation followed by bewildered wondering; -- So, what inane crap will unfold in  this world today, huh? -- 

Just this morning, there was that stupid news that a "nuclear war" was averted last year. The mad media is all about insanity. The devilish salacious hunger and preoccupation with doom is almost ridiculous. 

I told my husband it would be a good time to be a monk; "You, know, I can see me way up in the mountains with my prayer beads and silence," I sighed. 

Nope. You won't last -- no burgers there. You love your burgers, he quipped.  

 

Thing is, it's actually true. 😀

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* Photo taken 2018: Central Park, The Quin Hotel, Manhattan,  and Metropolitan Museum

How To Stay Sane (In this Crazy World )

How to stay sane?!? Like, what I mean is, how can you maintain a certain modicum of groundedness when literally inundated by an unprecedented assault of mania, left and right? Don't tell me to shut-off the news, or lay off  social media, or take to the current hermit lifestyle till this pandemic settles; not happening. 

Last night people up a floor were having a good time; waft of ciggie's, lots of laughs, some loud over excited convo about whatever, then more fake laughs. It almost felt like a normal Saturday evening if it weren't for the fact that our Covid numbers are insane, businesses are dying - stock market is  dead, and the government is certifiably unhinged! -- 

Check out the numerous depression,  anxiety and health groups online and you'd be shocked by the indescribable volume of people desperately seeking help. Only, there isn't any real - help. 

It's like a bug in your brain, everything that's happening, crawling...clawing...hatching eggs of doom and desperation as we go on trying to keep a straight face to the world. 

Advice on how to keep faith is everywhere, It might as well fall on deaf ears. Talk is cheap. What we need is to hack  resilience...now. We need to muscle our brains so we don't do stupid out of anxiety, confusion, fear, and loneliness. Drugs and drama or drinks won't get you out of a pandemic funk. 

This is why I do AFFIRMMATIONS. I'm not a pro, but it gets me somewhere above all the crap. 

I'm not religious either - but I take spirituality seriously as tea. I believe that you can genuinely rebuild your mind, as well as, softly relax its sore spots by instructing those grey cells what it needs to concentrate on. You ought to juice up the brains with the truth that power is within to stay strong! 

Today's affirmation prayer centers on how "The Power to Say the Right Word"  can lift your mind and soothe your tired soul. Whisper it to yourself. Feel how the ripple of syllables works wonders  to  restore your senses. Let it clarify your mind like only a fresh sweet river of thought can do. Try it.

Be refreshed. Visit: The Lady Prism's Sanctuary 

I'm Back ( Grateful for Sweet Memories )

Just like that here I am - once again! 👧 I'm back to writing my heart out, simply because I've missed it ever so dearly. 

It's been years and so much has happened, none of which was ever recorded in this site. My bad. 

I wish I did write everything: the good, the great, the silly, the teary, the struggles, the laughs, the sweet darling memories I've accumulated, including these pictures taken in Singapore circa 2018, which is pre - friggin' pneumonia, pre- pandemic, pre - succulent, pre - fresh new book hoarding fever, pre - online shopping madness, and pre - cycling everywhere craze! It was my 50th birthday family trip, and yes, I gratefully remember it well.  

Of course "vlogging" is all the rave today and maybe I'll get there soon - maybe. Then there's "Tweeting" which I never warmed too, but come to think of it, perhaps I was doing it all wrong. 

Oh well, here in this little cyber home, I feel the familiar charm and wonderment that accompanies typing out one's thought as opposed to merely "IG-ing" or "Facebook-ing". There's a cozy feel none of the other platforms possess. 

A bit of dusting needed though - to reflect my current life. The header photo will most likely be replaced by something that shows my current age. I was 48 there and now I'm 53. Big gap, I know.

Anyways, the goal of writing is simple: to record and to inspire. Speaking of inspire, my Lady Prism Sanctuary blog will undergo a fresh update as well. It will house my prayers, devotionals, and intimate studies of the great Saints. 

I hope whoever reads my pages find an Easter kind of joy blossom within their heart and soul. Till later. 💔💓💔