Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Pushing the Reset Button

The other night I did something I've been needing to do for a while. Got out my Leslie Sansone "Walk Away the Pounds" DVD. I prefer walking over most any type of exercise. But I do best when I'm walking around a track or path. A park in decent weather works quite well. Even the mall will do in a pinch. But walking to a DVD? I'm still not completely sold on it. Nevertheless, when it's too cold to walk outside or too late to go to the mall or track or park - well, if a DVD will get me moving, I'm all there. Especially when the space heaters are on in the gameroom. Did I mention I hate to be cold?

It occurred to me that the 15 oz. cans of fruit cocktail I was using as weights were probably not real effective. But swinging 26 oz. jars of spaghetti sauce just seems wrong.

Mike even joined me for a bit, although I'm pretty sure it was more for laughs than exercise. Let's just say my husband was not one of the male cheerleaders in high school! Oops, watch out for that ceiling fan, buddy! Okay, I think he lasted about a quarter mile.

In all seriousness though, as I huffed and puffed, I wondered why it's taken me this long to get moving. Yes, I hate to be cold. But even worse, I hate the feeling of stiffness that sets in during the winter months. I hate the melancholy feeling that lurks when the days are short and the nights long. For several weeks now I've been saying I just need to get moving. So what holds me back? Now that I did it tonight though, I'm sure I'll get back to doing it 3-4 times a week.

Sometimes growth and progress are not about doing something new, but rather pushing the reset button on the basics, either to get back on track or build on what we know. Reading through the Gospels, I'm reminded that this seemed to be Jesus' approach to growth - focusing on the basics and showing people how that looked.

I thought about this as I finalized my Prayer for 2008. It seems many of the things on my list reappear year after year. Whether it be prayer, managing our finances or taking care of our bodies, it always seems to come back to the same things - the basics. So this year, my goal is to embrace pushing the reset button, as many times as it takes to stay with what I know.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

I am all over this one Dianne. I need to get moving too .. in more ways than one like you said.

Thanks for this.

Susanne said...

Well hello again. I don't know what happened but bloglines didn't show you as posting in forever. I just thought you quit. I'm so sorry I've missed all these posts. And your return to comments. I'm so glad you have put the comments back!

And Oh I so need to get moving!

Katrina @ Callapidder Days said...

I get frustrated with myself sometimes -- because I have to press the reset button so often. It's as if I'd like to get "beyond" needing to focus on the basics. But that's not true. And God always welcomes my reset.

As for getting moving... yeah, I should be thinking about that, too.

Tami said...

Pushing the reset button on the basics, huh? You make me think, girl. . .dangerous territory!

Dionna said...

I enjoy walking too, Diane and have been squeezing more time in on our treadmill.

Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane said...

We're really debating right now about getting a treadmill. I do like walking and this time of year, I find it very hard to get motivated to walk outside. The mall is too much effort, and I don't generally mind walking DVD's. I have an older one by Denise Austin, and I have been doing the On Demand walking ones with Leslie Sansone on my cable. Which DVD do you have and what walk lengths (1, 2, 3 miles with or without extras like balls, resistance bands, balls, etc)?? Inquiring minds want to know.

Good for you for getting back on track. Now please send me some encouraging thoughts :)

Unknown said...

I think if we focus on the basics, we don't even notice that maybe the basics keep getting more and more advanced (just like with exercise--it gets easier!).

I'm the same way about exercising. If I can bite the bullet and just do it, I often get into a decent habit.

Girl Raised in the South said...

I have her DVD's too and was just thinking I needed to drag them out - they do amaze me that you can actually walk three miles within three sq feet of your living room. And the whole reset button thing - yeah!

gail@more than a song said...

I guess I need to get one of these...we don't have nearly the cold weather you do but for a couple of weeks it was being 20's or 30's in the mornings when I go to the park to do my laps and I just couldn't make myself bundle up to do it! Now that the weather is warmer it's raining all the time.
Reset, yep I need to get back on track with lots of things.