Reframing
I’ve been doing Ashtanga Yoga every day for 80 days and am almost finished with 3 weeks of my current weightlifting regimen, but I’m seeing practically no results, which is frustrating as hell.
But the other day I came across this before-and-after picture of a woman who went from flabby to lean in 9 months, and I had a lightbulb moment.
Nine months is a pregnancy! It takes 9 months to grow a new life in the human body, so why wouldn’t it take 9 months to recompose an already existing one?
I’ve had a baby, so I know that timeline very well. It goes like this: First trimester: you don’t show. Second trimester: you start to show. Third trimester: you are definitely pregnant.
Reframing my progress this way helps me relax by tempering my expectations. Thinking of myself as only in the first trimester makes it clear why I’m not “showing.” I do love a good reframe.
Ladder app Update
I’m still a fan of this app and a proud member of Team Ignite with Coach Stevie. I bought 20-pound weights the other day because I’ll need them soon. I’m also tracking my macros in the app’s Nutrition section now. (I also like calling protein, carbs, and fats “macros.”)
Crowding Out Instagram by Reading
I’m still spending more time on Insta than I’m happy about, but I did finish 3 books this week:
Transcription by Ben Lerner.
Taipei Story by R.F. Kuang.
and I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman.
I’ve started writing short book reviews on Goodreads to remind myself what I thought of them.
I’m now trying to read the Booker Short List, which came out this week.
The Disappearers by Marlon James
Black Bag by Luke Kennard
May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
John of John by Douglas Stuart
One of the five, May We Feed the King, won’t even be released until October 20th. I read John of John and The Things We Never Say this summer.
The Disappearers is over 600 pages, so that one will unfortunately set me back in my race to read 50 books by the end of the year because it’ll take me way more than a week to read.
I started Black Bag today, which is a manageable 350.
I like the Booker Prize more than the Pulitzer because the Booker is open to any work of fiction written in English, whereas the Pulitzer is limited to works of fiction by American authors.
Autumnal Equinox
I made sourdough bread this week.
I want soup.
I hauled sweaters up from the basement storage.
This weekend is Homecoming.
We now have mums everywhere.
Saturday is the Harvest Moon.
Happy Fall, everyone! Thanks for reading.
