Highlights of the month: It’s November, and it was a pretty good month. That’s kind of wild really given my historic hatred of November. I visited two new gyms, the YMCA and Fit4Less. I went to the Y to try their adult learn to swim and I went to Fit4Less with my middle adult kid, Gwen, who has a membership there. I also walked Cheddar a lot. We spread Sarah’s birthday celebration over two weekends, which helped with the November blues. I really enjoyed my seminar on Feminist Perspectives on Family Ethics, such great students. We’re done now and I’ll miss them.
Struggles: My struggles were also focused on something other than November. All of my sad and anxious feelings have been about a new medical diagnosis and what it means for my fitness life. I’m telling myself there’s no pressure to sort it all out immediately. For right now, my big focus is getting symptoms under control. I’ve got time to figure out the rest of it. Okay, it’s still November so there were also struggles about grading, the dark, and being too busy to catch my breath.
Workouts: So far I’ve worked out 350 times in 2025, still aiming for 400 in 2025 but that will mean doubling up on some days. And if I make it, I make it. This counting workouts thing is, for me, motivational and fun, but I also don’t stress about it. If I come close but don’t hit 400 that’s fine too. The thing is I’ll still get closer than I would have without the goal. Win, win. What’s a typical week look like? This week it was two morning sessions of personal training focused on strength, two morning Zwift rides, two dog walks, and Saturday morning aquayoga.
Kilometres ridden: My goal used to be 5k kilometres a year but that’s when I was training for the bike rally, doing winter cycling vacations, and taking some summer bike trips too. There’s been none of that this year for a variety of reasons. We did do some of the Parkinson’s rides but they were pretty short really. So this year I’m aiming for 2500. With only five weeks left in 2025 I’ll be lucky to make it to 2000. Wish me luck! And I’m making definite plans for the summer of 2026 since riding at a reasonable pace for long distances is still something I can do.
Gratitude:
November is Gratitude Month and I’ve been keeping up with my #ThreeDailyThings. I still enjoy doing it, partly because it makes me look for and collect good things to share. Philosophers, Daily Nous even has a November gratitude post.
Fiction:
These days I seem to have three books on the go– an audio book for dogs walks, an audiobook for in the car with Sarah, and an actual physical book.
So right now my list is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (my feminist book club pick for this month), Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (library audiobook for dog walks, and What We Can Know: A Novel by Ian McEwan (listening in the car with Sarah).
What Can We Know is the New York Times book club pick for December. You can read about it here.
What are you reading right now?
Fashion:
The other thing that I’ve done to cheer myself up in November is to have fun with clothes. I share outfits on Instagram, #ootd. I’m also trying to work my way through my closet wearing everything in it. If I reject something after some consideration, I give it away. It’s been fun seeing how many outfits I have that I don’t regularly wear. Also, hats! So many hats!
