I’m really tempted to say that I’m going to do one thing for the first month, but we all know that’s not true.
Except that it kind of is.
My themes for the year are practice and process and I’ve picked ONE particular aspect to focus on in January.
My focus is going to be on experimenting*.
In particular, I’m experimenting with scheduling my fitness and well-being practices.
So even though I’ll be trying lots of things, they’re really all in-service of that one thing – finding a comfortable schedule that lets me include all of the things I want to do on a regular basis.
It’s a practice that fits in nicely with my usual Planuary approach.**
I have found that evening is a good time for me to do yoga and morning is a good time for meditation, but I haven’t found the best time for journalling yet.
So that’s part of the January experiment.
I’ll keep you updated!
Speaking of updates:
Back in October, I started a walking challenge and I completed that on December 20. (My medal is in the mail!)
Last week, I signed up for a year-long challenge with the same company.
For these challenges, many people add their daily step count from their fitness tracker or that kind of thing***but I wanted to encourage myself to add more activity to my life on a regular basis so including my routine steps would be counterproductive.
Instead, I decided that I would only include extra activity that I deliberately chose to do- walks, dance videos, strength training – any activity that I did for the sake of moving. (FYI – the app converts many activities to an equivalent distance.)
And I enjoyed how my commitment to the challenge gave me extra motivation to seek out some exercise on a regular basis.
I’m following the same pattern with the current challenge – only adding deliberately chosen activities so I know that every kilometre was ‘travelled’ on purpose.
I’ll keep you in the loop on this, too.
Khalee approves of my walking challenge but she was very confused as to why I stopped to take her picture today instead of just continuing to walk. Image Description: My dog, Khalee, who is medium-sized and has short light-brown hair is standing on a snowy road that has one lane plowed. (It’s a suburban side street, we weren’t in danger!) she is standing looking to the left so we can see her entire left side, and her head is turned slightly towards us. She is wearing a light blue harness and a darker blue leash. The leash extends from her towards the lower part of the image on the right, where I am holding the leash in my right hand, but you can’t see that.
**As I said in one of my December posts, I actually managed to do a little January planning in December this time. Will wonders never cease?
I mean, I still have other things I want to plan but I feel good about having the capacity to think about January while so was still in December. Christine 1: ADHD 0 (in that situation, at least!)
***Zero criticism intended here. That’s a totally valid way to approach these challenges, it just wouldn’t serve my purposes.
This year is the first Christmas of being empty nesters. Our youngest is in British Columbia. Our eldest is over for a couple days. His beloved is on military deployment. So it’s just the 3 of us and we are finding new traditions.
Last night we had Tortiére, a savory meat pie, mashed potatoes and green beans. We made homemade apple fritters in the air fryer. Not too shabby. It’s a nod to the French Canadian tradition of Réveillon, celebrating the start of the holidays with food and family.
Today we are having turkey, wild rice & apricot stuffing, sweet potato casserole, bronzed onions and cranberry sauce.
If we get real ambitious we will make Cracker Candy. It’s a quick and easy dessert where the butter and sugar candy is poured over saltines and topped with chocolate and pecans.
One thing that is definitely on our agenda is giving Lucy and ourselves a good walk.
Our neighbourhood is quiet with students gone home for the holidays and many people traveling. It’s like we have the city to ourselves. I enjoy the peaceful, unhurried way everyone is going about the day.
Lucy the dog sits patiently by the door waiting for a walk.
As part of doing things differently this year there’s no alcohol involved. In previous years we’d have wine with meals and cocktails in the evenings. I’m surprised that I’m not missing it.
We’ve scaled way back on gifts as we are investing in house renovations next month. It’s a big change but one that feels good and aligned with what we really want.
Snowy walks are better in Santa hats. Nat and Michel smile while dressed in warm jackets covered in snow.
If where you are has today as a holiday I hope you are getting the day you need. I hope it includes the perfect balance of fitness, family and fun.
I know, I know! Since the advent of social media, we’ve been swamped with National Days and I’m pretty sure that National Dog Day (or Puppy Day or Rescue Day or I Love My Dog Day) happens several times a year.
And one part of me wants to resist falling for a trend or buying into the hype but another (very determined!) part of me says ‘Why not celebrate good things more often?’
Yes, I know that it is hard to celebrate things – even the very best things- every day.
And if you celebrate things every day, aren’t you just establishing a new normal and nothing is actually being celebrated?
Yeah, probably.
But maybe having multiple points in the year to celebrate important parts of your life is a good compromise between all of those things.
*****
With all of that wondering (overthinking? probably.) out of the way, I’m going to go ahead and celebrate National Dog Day today.
Even after 6 years, I still find myself somewhat surprised to have a dog.
It’s a good kind of surprise.
It’s delightful to have Khalee in my life, to take her for walks and to give her treats and to just have her company even though part of my brain is still astounded that she lives here.
You see, I have always been allergic to animals and while we had pets some of the time when I was growing up, my allergies kind of forced me to keep my distance.
I don’t think any of us realized that I could take an allergy pill daily. I only took them when my symptoms got really bad – they were a treatment, not a prevention – and as a result, while I loved our dog, Sox, and our guinea pigs and the like I didn’t get the same kind of close to them that other people got to their pets.
So, when my friends started getting pets for their kids – or when it was suggested that I get a pet for mine – I would comment that I couldn’t imagine having an animal living in my house.
Now, before you get all upstrapless about my tone there, I wasn’t judging them and I wasn’t saying dogs were bad. I was actually bewildered by the idea.
I liked dogs and cats but I didn’t understand them. I couldn’t get close to them (because: allergies) and so all I was imagining was having another creature to take care of and my brain just flatly refused to entertain the idea.
But once my ADHD meds were sorted and my kid’s therapist had recommended that we get a ‘tactile’ pet, I had a bit more capacity AND I had an extra reason to take on the responsibility of giving a dog a home.
This is a photo of Khalee from 2019 and I love how it looks like she is hoping I understood how important that secret she just told me was. Image description: a close-up photo of Khalee, a light-coloured, medium-sized dog, standing on a dark laminate floor with an orange wall in the background. She has her mouth slightly open and her eyes look serious.
In that post, I mention that I didn’t consider ‘dog person’ as part of my identity. I’m still not sure that it would occur to me to mention how I feel about dogs when having a casual conversation but I am a friend to dogs in a way I never was before and everypup recognizes me as a soft touch for a pat or a snack.
Khalee has branched out a bit since that post – she doesn’t follow every step I take anymore, unless I am in the kitchen or carrying a plate of food, of course.
She gets up waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early and she sometimes needs to go out over and over and over and that can be annoying in the moment but she also keeps me company when I’m working on something challenging and she gives me a reason to go out for a (often very slow) walk and she’s happy to see me when I come home (even if I have just been out in the driveway) and, well, she’s just great.
And appreciating her for her mere existence – she’s good because she’s good, not because of anything specific she does – has made it a lot easier to feel that way about creatures in general, including people.
A recent, sleepy photo of Khalee. Image description: a photo of Khalee, a medium-sized, light-haired dog resting with her head on her paws, facing the camera. Her face takes up most of the image and she looks gentle, relaxed, and sleepy.
So yeah, I’m up for celebrating National Dog Day.
If you are looking for some other ways to celebrate National Dog Day, check out this list on the National Dog Day website.
Khalee is DEFINITELY a Feminist. Image description: a photo of Khalee, a light-haired, medium-sized dog resting on my bed. She has her mouth open slightly and she is looking directly at the camera. Next to her is a rectangular pillow that says ‘Feminist’ in red cursive with a pink, yellow, and green rainbow behind it.
As a bonus, here are some photos of some of my other dog friends…I mean, my friend’s dogs…hmm, maybe I was right the first time.
This is my friend, Gal, she likes highway driving but she is not a fan of driving slowly. that’s why we don’t let her take the wheel. Image description: a photo from the passenger seat of a car with Gal, a husky, poking her head out from the backseat and resting her chin on the center console. You can see my left arm next to her head and my friend’s shoulder and a piece of her hair on the other side of Gal’s sweet face.Archie! My friend Archie likes to sleep on the back of your neck if you sit on his couch when you visit. He is a fan of treats – that’s something we have in common. Image description: a small black, white, and brown dog wearing a plaid bowtie sits upright on a brown couch. He has true puppydog eyes – round and bright and very likely to convince you to hand over a potato chip.Maisie and I are good friends, especially if I am willing to share my snacks, scratch her head, or hold her chew toy at chomping height. Image description: a large grey dog with fuzzy hair sits upright on a weathered patio. She has her tongue stuck out a little ways and her hair hangs over her eyes. You can see my friend’s arm as she reaches out to pat Maisie’s back, and you can see grass, flowers, and trees in the background. Reuben is a new friend of mine and he is VERY fuzzy and he was wondering if maybe I had a treat for him. (I did!) Image description: a tall, light brown, curly-haired dog is sitting upright on a tile kitchen floor next to a table with a flowered table cloth.Spritz (a.k.a. Spritzie) is a teeny brown chihuahua who liked being up in my arms until he very much did not and then I gently laid him down on the floor. Image description: a photo of me holding a teeny brown chihuahua in the crook of my left arm while I take a selfie with my right. I am wearing a beige sweater and I have my hair pulled back from my face with a black cloth band.
And just in case you want to know more about how helpful Khalee is, here are some of my posts that feature her:
May is usually a time of transition for me. The school term finishes and I ease into my summer schedule, which often includes travel to see friends and family, occasional conferences, and summer-at-home activity and projects. This May, however, I’ve been running (and driving and flying) around. Last week I was in Vermont with a friend, hanging out, doing some work, and petting the resident cat Kasper. This week I’m in South Carolina, staying with my sister and seeing my mom and other family.
My sister’s kids are out of the house this week on their own travel adventures, so we are taking advantage of the quieter time to hang out together and also knock out some home improvement tasks. Her wish list includes the following:
replace IKEA wardrobe doors
paint IKEA wardrobe sides to go with new doors
buy new bed and mattress
get rid of old bed and mattress to complete transition
paint bathroom one
paint bathroom two
buy and install IKEA standing shelf unit for bathroom two
paint upper kitchen cabinets
miscellaneous car maintenance for her and kids’ cars
My guess is that we will achieve some from her list and some from my list. We have already made some progress, having gone to IKEA right after she picked me up from the Charlotte, NC airport and scoped out possible purchases. And last night we watched several episodes of Hacks.
I like domestic activity, I like visiting my family, and I’m looking forward to this week. I’ll update y’all when I get back (my flight takes me home on May 31). Then my actual summer will begin…
A patch of Rocky shoals spider lilies; hoping to see some later today!
I have started this post approximately 8 million times today and I just couldn’t get any momentum.
Some topics were too small to get anywhere with and others were too big to wrap my head around on this kind-of-low-energy, didn’t-sleep-well, had-a-Covid-booster-shot-this-morning day.
And I had actually posted to the other bloggers to see if anyone had something they wanted to post today instead of me but before anyone could take me up on it, I remembered my best ways of getting things done.
a) do the easy thing
b) make it small
For this post, doing the easy thing meant focusing on writing ANYTHING instead of focusing on writing something good. I didn’t have to be profound or comprehensive, and I didn’t have to have some actionable conclusion, I could just write about how things are for me today – fitness-wise, mental health-wise, or wellness-wise.
And making it small meant that I didn’t have to write an essay, I could write a paragraph, I could post a photo, I could write a list.
So I did!
Here are three things that are making me happy today and that have the potential to bring me happiness in the longer-term, too.
1) Usually, Khalee and I walk by ourselves in the afternoon but a few times over the past week, thanks to the good weather and brighter evenings, Steve and I have taken her for another short walk together after supper.
More time with my husband, more time outdoors, a bit of extra exercise, and a definite break between the different parts of my day? I love this new routine!
image description: an evening photo of Khalee, my light-haired, medium-sized dog standing on a sidewalk next to some grass. She is looking back over her shoulder towards the camera and she has her tongue stuck out. There are two shadows on the sidewalk between her and the camera because the streetlight that just came on is behind me and my husband. You can’t tell in the photo of course but I’m laughing as I take this photo because the angle of where I am holding my phone makes my shadow-head look kind of rectangular.
2) I saved this Instagram post this morning because I loved how the ideas felts and I appreciated the simple (but not easy) suggestions about how to incorporate yoga principles into daily life.
I haven’t really put this into practice yet of course but I am trying to figure out ways to remind myself to return to these ideas repeatedly so they can become part of my routine.
An imbedded post from Instagram in which @johuttonyoga is talking about small moments of yoga in their day – trying to stay present, to deal with uncertainty, and to live yoga principles in a way that is more being than doing.
3) I’m reading Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s book Tiny Experiments: How to live freely in a goal-obsessed world and, so far at least, it’s a marvellous match for how my ADHD brain likes to get things done. I’ll be writing more about it when I’m finished reading but I wanted you to know about it in the meantime.
Yes, I did think it was funny to take a photo of my (e)book with this post in the background. Gotta find your fun wherever you can, right? Image description: a photo of the ebook cover of Tiny Experiments on my Kobo ereader. The device is propped up in front of my monitor on my desk and this post is displayed on screen. On the lower left of the monitor is a white piece of paper with text reading ‘Own Your Time’ and on the right is a sticker with a human skull and text reading ‘Pick Your Poison’ both of which are notes-to-self reminding me to choose how to spend my time instead of just letting it gallop along. My reading glasses are on the desk on the left.
Between December 1, 2024 and January 31, 2025, I has lots of fun writing 71 posts (and drawing 31 stars!) for Fit is a Feminist Issue. Just to do something different, today, I have decided to write very few words and to let some photos do the heavy lifting.
My knee has been giving me a little trouble, and Khalee’s ear has been a bit sore, and the weather has extremely cold, so we haven’t been out for a walk for a few days
But on Monday, it was time to get out and amble a bit even though it was still awfully cold.
A photo of a single birch tree with a few evergreens and deciduous trees a little distance away. The ground is snow-covered and there is a little bit of snow on the branches of the surrounding trees.
I think we both needed that time outside, walking on the path, checking out the snow and the trees, and just letting our minds wander, too.
A photo of a mostly snow-covered river with patches of tall, yellowed grass poking through the snow. There is a path on the left side of the river and there are evergreen trees on both sides.
Ok, maybe my mind was the only one wandering, I am pretty sure Khalee was VERY focused on sniffing every single thing she encountered.
Ok, she’s not actually sniffing anything here, it was a brief pause in her sniffvestigations. Image description: Khalee, a light brown dog in a green hoodie stands on a snowy path facing away from the camera.
Either way, it was good to be outdoors.
A snowy photo of a narrow river. There’s a wooden fence and tall yellow grass sticking out of the snow all the way along. A leafless tree is in the foreground on the right and there are evergreens in the distance. Khalee was just finished shaking her head when I snapped this, hence the strange look on her face. Image description: a photo of Khalee, a light brown dog in a green hoodie, standing on a snowy path. She is looking towards the camera and looks like she is a bit fed up with the viewer.This photo is really just to show off my hat that my beloved Mother-in-law made for me this year. Image description: a slightly smirky selfie of me (a middle aged white woman with a round face and light brown hair) I’m standing in front of my fence with a large leafless tree visible behind me. I’m wearing an off-white knitted toque with some bits of grey and gold in the mix, a dark green scarf and a black coat that is sprinkled with snow. My hat is pulled right down to my eyebrows and I look more than a little goofy…which tracks.
I’ve noticed that a lot more people in my neighbourhood have their holiday lights up early this year and it made me think of that saying – ‘If you can’t make your own serotonin, store bought is fine.‘
Usually I like to wait until December to put my lights up because I like that month to feel extra special but after a full month of rainy days, I need all the light I can get.
An early evening photo of a string of colourful lights on the railing of my (very damp) patio. There are leafless trees, a fence, and a streetlight in the background.
And today I realized that I’ve actually been choosing the (literally) brighter option whenever I can for the last few weeks. (Subconscious self care! I can’t believe my ADHD let me away with that.)
I picked a new desk lamp that gives me a wide swath of light for my desk on gloomy days (ugh) and at night.
A photo of my white desk with my lamp on. The lamp rises from behind my monitor and extends out on both sides casting bright light on my books, my art supplies, and the sewing project I’m working on at the moment.
I chose a new light-up leash for Khalee because the old yellow one didn’t light up anymore. It’s cheery AND it’s useful for walking in the early evening.
A photo of Khalee, my dog, doing a sniff-investigation on some grass on an early evening walk. Her blue light up leash is in the foreground and there is a streetlight nearby. There’s also a 40 speed limit sign but don’t worry we weren’t walking that fast.
And, in general, I have been making sure not to spend any extra time in the dark. There’s no need for me to be sitting in a dimly-lit room unless I choose to.
I know there are a lot of things I need to do to reduce my chances of being fully captured by seasonal depression* but I feel like finding more light – literally and metaphorically – is a good foundation.
Days that include more exercise, good quality sleep, hanging out with friends, and doing activities I enjoy can all be built on top of seeking light and that’s what I intend to do.
How are you dealing with the darker days lately?
Any fun ideas?
*I always struggle a bit but last year was especially bad and I am determined to help myself every single way I can this year.
Image description: Khalee, a medium-sized, short-haired dog is standing on a sunny wooden patio looking intently toward the camera.
When I took this picture on Sunday, her question for me was ‘Are you gonna share that banana?’
But, now that I see the photo again, I think her look is actually more intense and her questions are even more important than I realized at the time.
I think the banana was just the surface thought, I think, deep down, she wants to know if you are making time to rest this summer?
She’s wondering if your plans include downtime?
She’s wondering if you make the same mistake I do – subconsciously trying to get all the ‘work’ done before I relax when what I need to do is include rest as part of the overall plan – and how you might start to switch that up a little?
She’s wondering if you are trying to do things ‘right’ when good enough is, well, good enough?
She’s wondering if you are taking time to lie down in the shade and just sniff the air?
And, of course, she’s wondering if you know that any and all patio snacks should be shared with your dog?
This message has been brought to you by Khalee, Encourager of Rest, Ambassadog for Mental Health, Sharer of Snacks and is fully endorsed by me, Christine Hennebury, Proponent of Self-Kindness and Fetcher of Snacks.
Over the past week, I have been choosing to do longer guided meditations in my Insight Timer app.
So, that means that instead of just opening the app and starting the timer, I’ve been searching for new meditations to try.
On Sunday, a typo led to the happy accident of discovering that there are a whole bunch of dog-related meditations mixed in there with the chakra stuff and the nature sounds.
At first I thought it was kind of silly (in a good way!) but then there was something strangely appealing about the idea of doing a dog-related meditation.
After all, dogs are pretty damn good at being in the moment, aren’t they?
And haven’t I often posted a calm picture of Khalee as a good example for myself.
You know, like this one:
Image description: a photo of sleepy Khalee on the quilt on my bed. The photo only shows her head, shoulders, and front paws. Her head is resting slightly sideways one her front paws with one paw sticking out from under it.
So, I figure it’s worth a try.
I can’t seem to link to the meditations in my app but here are a couple from YouTube:
This is a guided meditation to do while petting your dog, to help you both calm down.
‘5 Minute Guided Meditation With Your Dog’ from Marissa Walch. Still image shows the instructor sitting on the floor with her dog in front of her, the dog’s back is to the camera.
And this is a walking meditation to do while, you guessed it, walking your dog:
‘Walking Your Dog Meditation’ from Marie Wilkinson still image shows a stock cartoon image of a brown dog with white paws walking on a leash.
I’m going to give these, and the ones from my app, a try and report back.
Have you tried dog meditation?
What did you think?
PS – Speaking of things that seem silly but are actually kind of cool, maybe your dog will like this calming music as much as Khalee does? I played it for her once when she was agitated because the smoke alarm was beeping (the battery needed changing, there was no peril!) and it really helped.
