Exercise (again)

Hello Blog

It's been a while. 

Let's talk about the changes in my life. Actually, one major change only - I've started exercising! Not as regularly as it should be but I've started. 

My dear friend, Mrs Armf, has been recommending a series of exercise videos available on youtube by a woman called Emi Wong. Prior to that, I was following this other woman called K_yla It_ines. She's good but I think she's more for the pros. (When I say following, I mean, following her ig account. Full stop. Not following her exercise moves.) For beginners like me who may have issues with almost everything, Emi Wong gives encouragements that make you relate to her. For example, we've barely begun and she says that we should have already started perspiring by now. Oh yes, that's me. 

Anyway, it's been more than a year since she recommended Emi Wong but it took me that long to get off my flabby posterior.  Sometime in August, with the JC reunion happening in mere weeks, I thought I should get started. So I did 2 days of Emi Wong. Died. Didn't continue. No difference to my mummy tummy or flabby behind. Had reunion. Who cares what we looked like. Continued Emi Wong because in a perverse, masochistic way, I like how exhausted I was at the end of each session.

I did it off and on since then. At least 3 or 4 times a week. Still no difference to my mummy tummy and flabby behind. But one day, I saw a bus coming. 

(This story requires a paragraph (or 2 or 70) of its own)

The bus was still quite far. I told my kids, let's get that bus. So we ran after the bus. We ran and we ran. 

We got on the bus!

We sat down. 

My #2 commented, "Mak, you were so fast!" (Fast is relative here. Relative to a sloth)

At that moment, I also realised I wasn't panting. I also realised the distance I ran was a lot more than 10 metres. 

Ding ding ding!

Whoa! I've done it. My stamina has actually increased! Amazing! 

So that's the major change in my life right now. I'm approaching 42. When I turned 40, I knew it was time for me to start giving myself the gift of health. I must continue exercising regularly and make sure my knees and bones and muscles can see me through old age. If I can lose an extra 5 inches each from my waist and behind and thighs, that is a happy bonus.  

At this ripe old age, I need to start on other things that I've neglected like use of sunblock and mindfulness. 

The skin, especially the cheeks and nose which receive maximum sun exposure, is showing signs of ageing. There are sun spots on the nose and cheeks. There's one persistent rough spot on the left cheek. It's been there for at least a month. Probably longer because I don't really take notice of my skin til recently. I want to see a GP and seek a recommendation to see a dermatologist. Hopefully I won’t be sent to IMH instead. I mean, I’ve seen how people with flawless skin fret over a pimple. I’m not exactly flawless but that persistent rough patch that does not respond to 1 week of intensive moisturizer should be checked, right?

As for mindfulness - I've been a forgetful person for a long time. It's time for me to start practising some form of mindfulness. Well, according to definition, this isn't quite what mindfulness is. But, I shall define it as a way not to do things mindlessly, that is doing things on an auto mode where it's just muscle memory in action. It's about being aware of what I'm doing. 

So those are my goals for the coming years: keep myself fit, keep the skin healthy and keep the mind strong. Insya Allah.