Tag: motivation

a small drawing of a gold star with a happy face on it Go Team 2026: A Gentle Reminder To Give Yourself What You Need (When You Can, Of Course)
advice · fitness · Go Team · meditation · motivation · rest

Go Team 2026: A Gentle Reminder To Give Yourself What You Need (When You Can, Of Course)

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Hey Team, 

Here’s the short version of this post: It’s ok to give yourself the movement, the peace of mind, and the rest that you need.

I know this is not the first time I have given you (or myself) this advice but since I always need reminders about this stuff then I assume you do, too.

So, to reiterate:

Whenever you can, please, please, please, give yourself the things you need. 

If you need rest, then please get some rest

And please do that in a way that lets you meet your needs the best way you can in your current situation.

Resting doesn’t have to mean taking a nap (but a nap is great if you are able to take one!) It can mean resting in small increments, taking some deep breaths, pausing between tasks, choosing to limit the scope of some tasks, doing some yoga or stretching, or picking a restorative activity.

If your thoughts are feeling tangled and you need to meditate or journal then please meditate or journal. 

And please do those things in the way that meets your needs. 

Journaling doesn’t have to be pen on paper, it can be typing on a screen or drawing on an envelope or using voice to text or creating a collage or anything else that makes your thoughts more tangible and organizable for you. 

Meditation doesn’t have to mean sitting still (but that type of mindfulness is totally cool.) It can mean colouring, or doing walking meditation, or drawing a series of small lines, or doing a task with great care. It’s more about the nature of your attention than the specific activities involved.

If you need to get moving, then please get moving.

And please do that in the way that meets your needs.

If you need intense exercise, then push yourself hard in whichever ways are available to you right now. 

If you need slow movement, then take your time. 

If you need to lift heavy, lift heavy. If you need to lift light, lift light. 

And please don’t feel like you need to limit yourself to doing some sort of established routine. It’s totally ok to put on some music and flail around like a fish that got washed up on the beach. It’s totally ok to head to the playground and swing on the swings. It’s totally ok to do squats while you watch TV.  And it’s totally ok to stretch while you talk to a friend. 

As long as your movement meets your needs, then forge ahead.

If you need something, then please do what you can to meet that need. 

Even if you feel you *shouldn’t* (I still hate that word!) need it.

In fact, ESPECIALLY if you feel you shouldn’t need it. 

Your needs matter. 

You matter. 

And if you need some sort of permission before meeting those needs – in whatever way you are able to meet them at the moment – then consider that permission granted. 

I may not be the boss of you but I am perfectly willing to boss you into being kind to yourself. 

(Yes, I *am* the oldest sister, how did you guess?)

So, Team, please, please, please take good care of yourselves out there. 

And here is your gold star for your efforts to meet your needs – whatever they happen to look like right now. 

Go Team Us!

a small drawing of a gold star with a happy face on it
This little gold star cheered me right up. If you have a minute, draw yourself a gold star – you won’t regret it!

Image description: a drawing of a cartoonish gold star with a happy face on it. The drawing is on a piece of white index card and the background behind the star includes a bunch of small marks (some dots and some are a little more like lines) and five short lines that are near each point on the star like it is either glistening or in motion. The piece of index card is propped up between the keys on my computer keyboard which is black with white letters.

advice · fitness · habits · mindfulness

Positive is Practice – Sam’s 3 Good Things

elan.paulson1 Comment

I interviewed Sam about her regular habit of sharing “3 good things” from her days on her personal social media feed.

EP: You often post “3 good things” on your personal socials along with photos. How long have you been doing this, and has your reason for still doing it changed since you started?

SB: I started six years ago in November. November is gratitude month, and it’s also my least favourite month of the year, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to look around and find things to be grateful for.

I’m not sure exactly when I started doing it year-round, maybe two or three years ago? I liked it so much I didn’t want to stop when November was over.

Why do I keep it up? I like the way it makes me feel. But also, and I notice this more these days, the practice itself trains me to start looking around for good things.

EP: This tracks with something I heard on a recent podcast about negativity bias. We’re wired to overfocus on the bad (to the point where we overlook the good), but intentionally practising the positive can help us rebalance. The researcher called it gain-framing, seeing experiences through a positive lens or treating setbacks as opportunities to learn. Does that match your practice?

SB: Yes, that definitely matches my experience. I do a bit of only good things and a bit of reframing. I’ve got a close family member in the hospital. Not good. But good that they’re getting the excellent medical care they need.

A woman in glasses looks through her fingers Ina square frame shape

I also share bad news. I’m one of those academics, for example, who posts about rejections. It’s not just good news. Junior scholars need to see that rejection is part of the process. I also share when I stop doing things, so it doesn’t always look like I’m doing more new things without stopping others.

EP: The podcast researcher talked about the value of sharing positive experiences with others, which reinforce them and connect us to others through that sharing. Do you think about how others receive your posts? How do you feel sharing them?

SB: I do worry sometimes that people think it’s all good things all the time, but there’s a lot of bad at work that I can’t share on social media for a whole host of reasons. Ditto bad personal news, which often involves other people, and sometimes it’s their story to tell, not mine. Sometimes I find it hard to get the valence right.

EP: It sounds like you are aware of thr bad, but it’s not always shareable. So that’s another reason why you just choose to focus on the good. And maybe that you don’t want the terrible to stop your from seeing the good?

SB: I find that seeing the good helps me understand what we’re struggling for, why it all matters. The world is a beautiful place.

We were canoe camping this past weekend and I loved the light on the water, the sounds of the birds, watching a hummingbird on the flowers, swimming with loons, basking on warm rocks after swimming in a cold lake, the taste of hot tea and cookies, swaying in a hammock and napping. So many good things.

EP: How would you recommend that others try out sharing “3 good things,” and what to do on the days when thry feel negativity bias creeping in?

SB: To be honest, I’ve skipped 3 or 4 days over the years where things were too bleak to do it. I think that’s okay. That’s life.

I keep a Google doc on my phone, called Three Good Things, for myself. But I also share on social media for the habit and the accountability. For a time I thought about starting a blog just focused on tracking workouts and sharing good things. You could do that too.

Listen to “Stepping Out of the Shadows” from Hidden Brain, hosted by Shankar Vedantam, with psychologist Alison Ledgerwood (University of California Davis).,who explores negativity bias, the deeply human tendency to hold on to what went wrong and overlook what went right. In the episode, Ledgerwood unpacks why our minds are drawn to losses and threats, and what can be done to rebalance our attention. 

fitness · running · training

Tracy’s C25K is taking longer than 9 weeks and that’s okay

Tracy I1 Comment
Image description: Overhead shot of white running shoes on a dark hardwood floor. Shoes show a bit of wear and tear, laces untied. Photo by Tracy Isaacs

Back in early April I posted about easing back into running with the Couch to 5K program. It’s a nine-week program and I had high hopes of being able to complete it as written, within the nine weeks. In my original post I said I’d report back at the end of April with an update, and I thought I’d be done by the end of May.

Well, life has a way of not cooperating with the best laid plans, doesn’t it?

Things started to go sideways when late April got ridiculously busy with the end of classes. Then I had an intensive photography workshop in Indiana where it rained pretty much all the time. I took my gear but I had neither time nor energy nor weather to get out for my runs.

And then I four days after I got back I lost my mother. And that was it. For the next several weeks life was a surreal blur of grief, spending time with others in grief, and making plans to celebrate the life of a wonderful and much-loved woman who we were expecting to be with us for some years to come. It was very sad. And there was no room for a training program.

I have regained my footing enough to get back on track and have almost completed Week 7 of the program. The big jump from reasonable walk and run intervals happens in week 5, where the third run suddenly has a 20-minute continuous run flanked on each end by 5 minutes of walking to warm up and cool down.

Week 6, which is behind me now, goes back to more run-walk intervals but ends with a 25-minute run (as always, 5 minutes of warm-up and cool-down). And Week 7 is just three 25-minute runs, repeating the third day of Week 6. I don’t anticipate any new hurdles (let me touch some wood!) to get in my way. If I’m right, that means I’ll bring the program to a close in the first week of August.

So how’s it going? On balance I’d say it has gone and is generally going well. I did not use the C25K app. Instead I set up the intervals on my Intervals Pro app, and when we got to the longer continuous runs of 20 and then 25 minutes I used the Nike Run Club apps guided runs with Coach Bennett. He’s cheesy but oh so encouraging and makes me feel like I can do it. And so I did that for the first 25 minute run. The other day I did one on my own, using my own inner voice to self-coach in Coach Bennett style. That was my best run to date and I felt a real sense of accomplishment.

I felt nervous about the 20-minute run in week 5 and the 25-minute runs at the end of week 6 and throughout week 7. I have not done a lot of continuous running training in my life, opting mostly for the 10-1 run-walk intervals that the Running Room promotes in its run club, which is where I got my start.

There is an ongoing debate about whether to do continuous running or run-walk intervals. Some people say that over distances the pace balances out and you get a little break to look forward to every 10 minutes. That makes it psychologically easier for some people. I have tried both ways but I admit that I feel like more of a badass when I do continuous. I also find it in some ways easier to maintain a slightly slower consistent pace for longer than to start running again after a one-minute walk break. The countdown at the end of the break sometimes feels as if it’s signalling a fresh new punishment. It’s all attitude and different things work for different people, but at the moment, not taking walk-breaks makes running a more positive experience overall for me. I also had my best 10K time ever (way back when) after the only time I consistently trained for continuous running rather than 10-1 intervals.

I am feeling enough back on track that I even have plans for when I’m done this program and can do 30 minutes of continuous running. I don’t think I will hit a 30-minute 5K, but even in my 50s I couldn’t do that. I’m going to do the Run Less, Run Faster cross-training plan that follows the FIRST method where you do to do three “quality”run and two cross-training workouts (I’m going to swim) each week. I’m also adding some resistance training and a couple of yoga sessions each week. The runs in that program are purposeful: one tempo, one speed intervals session, and one long run.

I’m working on the 5K distance and signing up to do a local 5K in September. I’ll post more about that in a bit. Meanwhile, wish me luck as I embark on the final couple of weeks of C25K. I can see the value in this program and I recommend it for anyone just starting out or wanting to get back into running.

A photo of a wire card with the word decide drawn on it. Meditation Jumpstarts Christine’s New Exercise Routine
ADHD · habits · meditation

Meditation Jumpstarts Christine’s New Exercise Routine

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

I started the Hybrid Calisthenics routine last Monday and I swear I can feel a big difference in my movements already.

Yeah, I know, it’s unlikely that I actually have many results from a single week of focused training but my brain is convinced otherwise so I am just rolling with it. 

In fact, my brain is so convinced that it isn’t fighting me on finding time to exercise every day. Instead, it has let me just get started* when I reach ‘exercise time’ each day. This is virtually unprecedented. 

And I think this shift comes down to two things:

  1. A meditation on Insight Timer called Train Like An Athlete**  in which Amanda Sellers said (among lots of other helpful things), “You don’t need motivation, you need a decision.” 

I swear when I heard that, I actually said ‘Oh!’ out loud.

I don’t know why that really hit home at that moment – I know perfectly well that I don’t need motivation but perhaps subconsciously I didn’t believe it until just then. 

Right after I listened to the meditation, I got out of my chair and did some stretches, squats, and standing twists just to keep myself in the right frame of mind. 

And later that day, when I was mowing the lawn, I reframed that chore as exercise and decided to make sure to push myself a bit harder throughout the process.  My ADHD brain loved the feeling of that decision and it loved the fact that I was accomplishing two things at once. 

The good feeling of DECIDING to move my body more effectively lasted through the rest of the yard work the next day and brought me right up to Monday morning when I realized that I could build on the momentum of the last two days by choosing a new exercise program and starting it RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT. 

And that’s when the Hybrid Calisthenics app kind of floated into my mind. 

  1. The Hybrid Calisthenics program app is VERY straightforward and VERY clear.

I have sort of tried the program as outlined on the website before but I didn’t get very far with it because, as I now realize, I don’t do very well with just a list of exercises.

When I just have a list, I always either push myself too far and overdo it early in the process or I don’t push myself enough and I get bored with it. 

So, while I love Hampton’s friendly and encouraging style on the Hybrid Calisthenics YouTube Channel   I had kind of filed his program away for later.  You know, the perfectly logical process of putting a program that will help you slowly build your fitness on hold until you feel fitter. (Note: please read that sentence in a dry sarcastic tone. Include an eyeroll if you can.)

But once I took a look at the app, his routine felt a lot more possible so I once again took Amanda’s advice and made two decisions 1) to give the routine a try and 2) to follow the routine as it was laid out – no second guessing, no figuring things out, just following the instructions in the app.

Before I knew it, I was doing two sets of 30 wall pushups and two sets of leg extensions, recording my progress on the app, and feeling a real sense of accomplishment. 

It must have been the perfect combination and level of exercises for me because while my muscles were a bit tired the next day, they weren’t discouragingly sore and I could do the next part of the routine without strain or stress. 

And now it’s a week later and I could increase my wall pushups by a few reps this morning. 

All because I heard that line “You don’t need motivation, you need a decision.” and made a decision at just the right time. 

Now I just have to keep deciding to show up for myself. 

Go me!

*Task initiation is notoriously hard for the ADHD brain in general and my ADHD brain in particular. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=adhd+trouble+getting+started

**The full meditation isn’t available without a membership but here’s a sample – https://insig.ht/a0IpEg5jK4b)

A painting of a gold star on black paper with encouraging text on one side. Go Team 2026: Keep Showing Up
fitness · fun · Go Team · goals · habits · health · motivation · self care

Go Team 2026: Keep Showing Up

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Hey Team,

When was the last time you celebrated showing up?

If it has been a while, then please take this post as a sign to pat yourself on the back, congratulate yourself, and claim your gold star.

And if you congratulated yourself earlier today?

Well, pat yourself on the back, congratulate yourself again, and claim your gold star.

If you’re like me, there will be times when you are really challenging yourself and times when you are just kind of treading water.

Both are good.

In fact, the whole range of ways to show up are all good.

And I’d like you to celebrate every one of them.

I am proud of you for showing up when it’s fun and I’m proud of you for showing up when it’s annoying to be there.

And I hope that, overall, you get more fun than annoyance but here’s your gold star for your efforts either way.

Go Team Us!

A painting of a gold star on black paper with encouraging text on one side.
I’ve been trying out gold star cards with encouraging text and I like how this one turned out. Image description: a black card with a small painting of a gold star on the left side. On the right side is a piece of white card with rounded corners that says, in black text, “ this gold star celebrates your hard work, the effort you put into showing up every time. Congratulations! I’m so proud of you.” The white card is framed in black with a gold frame outside of the black one. There is a thick gold line a little ways under the star that also extends downward underneath the white card.

a close-up photo of a lilac branch with the flowers still closed Paying Attention Pays Off On Christine’s Monday Walk
dogs · fitness · mindfulness · walking

Paying Attention Pays Off On Christine’s Monday Walk

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Monday was an ‘out of sorts’ kind of day.

I don’t really know why I was out of sorts because nothing went particularly wrong.

In fact, lots of things went right – I had two terrific Zoom conversations with friends, I spent some time drawing and writing, it was sunny out for most of the day – but I felt a little under the weather, I couldn’t really settle into my work, and I had to push myself to do even the simplest things.

I even had to push myself to go for a walk this afternoon – an activity that is automatic about 90% of the time.

I’m sure Khalee would have forgiven me if we didn’t walk today but I didn’t like the idea of her missing out on a walk on a warm, sunny day.

Since I was having trouble with the push to walk, I decided to try to add a ‘pull’ factor – I challenged myself to take a photo as many beautiful things as I could without Khalee losing her patience.

And that worked out pretty well – it made my walk into a series of small strolls between photos and I was reminded of how many lovely things I can see even on a short walk.

All in all, this small photo challenge was a good way to finish my Monday.

And if you’re having trouble getting out for a walk, I highly recommend going off in search of beauty.

a photo of small white flowers on the tip of a tree branch
I really liked seeing all of these clusters on white flowers on the tree branches reaching toward the path. Image description: a cluster of small white flowers on the top of a tree branch that has relatively small green leaves. The background is out of of focus but there’s grass and trees and the sun is shining through here and there.
a photo looking up at the underside of a spruce tree with green cones and purple cones forming on the branches.
I really liked the contrast of the green branches and the purple cones with the blue sky in the background. Image description: a photo of the underside of a spruce tree looking up towards the sky. another set of branches, up very high, is visible at the top of the photo and the deep blue sky is visible on several sides. The tips of the spruce branch are laden with new cones that are growing. Some are green and others are a soft purple.
a photo of a small woodsy area with a dog in the foreground
When I was young, my friends and I played ‘spies’ in the small wooded areas along this path. Little alcoves formed by the trees were our favourite hiding places. Image description: a photo of a wooded area with a clearing between the trees, the entrance to which is partially blocked by trees that are leaning far to one side. Khalee, my light brown dog who is wearing a blue neckerchief is in the bottom of the photo.
a top-down photo of a shallow river almost completely overgrown with trees and shrubs and dotted with rocks.
I take so many photos of the sun on the greenery and the river in this particular spot on the bridge. Image description: a photo of a river that is so overgrown that there are just two or three pools of water easily visible between the greenery and the rocks. The sun is shining down on all the trees and shrubs and grass making it area look very lush.
a photo of suburban street with a long cloud in the bright blue sky with the sun at the very top of the photo.
Something about the shape of this cloud was really pleasing to me and I also loved how looooooong the street looked in this photo. Image description: a photo of a street near my house that seems to be leading me right toward the most prominent long white cloud in the bright blue sky. The sun is a bright shape with a kind of aura around it in the top of the photo and there is a series of trees, houses, and cars, as well a sidewalk along the left side of the photo, and a few houses, trees, and cars on the right.
a close-up photo of a lilac branch with the flowers still closed
I took this photo on my front lawn where this lilac tree keeps blooming despite (because of?) my benign neglect. Image description: a close-up photo of a lilac branch with bright green leaves and with the lilac flowers still closed up in dark pink buds. There are houses and cars out of focus in the background and blue sky above.
a top-down photo of some bright orange flowers amidst greenery
These small orange flowers are apparently a type of poppy and they also thrive under my benign neglect in a planter next to the lilac tree in front of my house. I will be pulling the grass out of the planter once I get around to it. Image description: a top-down photo of some small orange poppies amidst a variety of green plants and leaves and a smattering of grass stalks. On the right side of the photo there is the edge of the wooden planter and a few rocks scattered on the dirt that is part way under my front steps.
a photo of the head and front legs of light brown, medium-sized dog who is looking towards the camera
I think Khalee is just as beautiful as the trees, the flowers, the river and the cloud, of course. Image description: a photo of Khalee, a medium-sized light brown dog whose face, paws and chest are white. She is wearing a jaunty blue neckerchief with blue daisies outlined on it. She is standing in a shadow on a patch of grass with a sunny spot just past her. Only her front paws and her head is in the shot and she has her head turned slightly towards us so she is looking into the camera.
Nat is back at strength training
Sat with Nat · strength training

Nat is back at strength training

natalieh (she/her)Leave a comment

Somewhere along the way strength training fell off my routine over the last six months.

I injured my lower back in the winter. Part of my recovery was limiting some types of movement. I had to be very careful with what activities I did to not further aggravate my lower back.

While strength training helps recover from and prevent lower back injuries I found myself sticking to my physio but not much else.

Dumbbells with rubber coating are nice a quiet when I put them down.

Michel and I started back with a Peloton 30 minute full body class on Sunday. He loves Andy as an instructor and I love heavy metal music. Thankfully Andy has a few heavy metal workouts so we were both pumped to get back at it.

I prefer my workouts to feel like a rock concert.

The first class I used three pound dumbbells to warm up and five pounds for the core movements. I focused on form.

Two days later my pecs were tender. What? Even with that light of weights?

Last night we did the same class again right after work. I bumped up to 10 lb weights for some exercises but stuck with fives for the rest.

I caught sight of my reflection during a suitcase squat. I appreciated how strong I felt and how quickly my body was responding to training.

How I feel in strength class, jacked!

Michel looked at me. “I love you so much. Thank you for doing this with me.”

He is starting to hate strength training a bit less. He credits that to us making it a date. I love that we can modify moves, swear and complain in our basement without bothering anyone else.

It is no small feat, to regularly carve out time for strength training. I had thought with me being retired I would feel an abundance of time. It is surprising how many demands are on my time. My expectations have also changed. I suffer from being an optimist and underestimate how long a given task will take.

Our goal is to lift weights three times a week. I do love it. I feel badass and the heavy metal music makes my heart sing.

Metal is working class opera. I love the big feelings, intense vocals and shredding guitar. The music gives a place for my effort filled grunts and complex thoughts about my fitness to go. It’s a winner.

Rock on my friends.
A drawing of a shiny gold star against a green background that is decorated with black spirals Go Team 2026: Be kind to yourself about frustration, please.
ADHD · advice · Go Team · goals · habits · motivation · self care

Go Team 2026: Be kind to yourself about frustration, please.

Christine Hennebury1 Comment

Hey Team,

I am solidly in the messy, frustrating middle of so many projects right now – fitness and otherwise.

And it is taking a lot of effort to keep working away at stuff instead of ditching everything and starting over.

The middle of any project is rarely fun but it can be especially dreadful for those of us with ADHD. The novelty has worn off, there’s a lot of trial and error, and everything seems very, very dull.

My brain really wants me to

  • start some new stories instead of working on ones that need revising.
  • try some new exercises instead of sticking with my walking/yoga/mobility routine.
  • buy new containers to store stuff instead of decluttering (decluttering = so many choices to make -ugh!)
  • try some new drawing techniques instead of improving my current skills.
  • invent different workshops and projects instead of finishing and promoting the ones I am already working on. 
  •  (don’t even get me started on my volunteer projects!)

But despite the noise my brain is making about this, I know that starting something new – in any category- will only be temporarily fun.

Pretty soon that new, fun thing will be at the messy middle stage and I’ll be annoyed all over again.

And, even though my brain has doubts, I know that I will REALLY enjoy when I finally finish something, when I can feel a difference in my body or my mind, and when I can see some of the progress I have made.

The only way to get to that real enjoyment is to keep inching everything forward, to add fun and novelty where I can, and to keep reminding myself that it is extra fun to actually finish something – even if that time feels very far away at the moment.

So, Team, even allowing for ADHD-related intensity, I’m pretty sure that ‘Why is the middle so annoying?’ is a pretty common feeling.

In fact, being annoyed with any part of any process seems pretty common.

You might be annoyed with the details required to get started or the details required to finish up.

You might find the middle incredibly tedious.

The unknowns at the beginning might get on your nerves.

Figuring out the last few steps might be frustrating.

All of it makes sense and it is all perfectly ok.

Sure, your frustration might lead you to use a slightly different approach or it could mean you need a little break or need a little more support.

But none of those feelings of frustration automatically suggest that this project isn’t for you.*

And when they arise, you can remind yourself that they are part of your process and then find a way to forge ahead – perhaps slowly, perhaps after a break, perhaps with a little more fun added to the mix.

I’m not saying that it is easy to do that, just that it is possible. 

And your effort will be worth it. 

In fact, speaking of effort, here’s our gold star for our efforts today – no matter which part of the process we are in right now. 

Go Team Us!

PS – Be kind to yourself out there, pretty please.  

*Meanwhile, if every part of the project is frustrating every single time, then it may be time to consider whether the project is a good fit overall.

Moving more makes Christine want to move more – go figure!
challenge · dogs · fitness · walking

Moving more makes Christine want to move more – go figure!

Christine Hennebury2 Comments

Khalee and I have been working on a walking challenge – The Great Sniffari 2026 – and I chose for us to walk 21km over the first 10 days of May.

Often when I try to take photo of Khalee, she steps out of the way. This time she kind of photobombed my photo of this fallen tree with the roots exposed and a ‘witch broom’ tangle of branches on it. Image description: a photo of Khalee, my medium-sized dog with short, light-brown hair on most of her body and white paws, tail, and face, wearing a jaunty green bandana with cartoon bugs on it. She is looking to the right in the photo and her neck is foreshortened because of the angle so she looks a little squished. Behind her is a fallen tree with the roots exposed.

The challenge seemed like it would be fairly easy at the outset – a small extra effort on top of our usual walks – but things went a bit awry and I realized last Thursday that I was going to have to do a bit of a push to finish on time.

So on Thursday we walked 2.78km, on Friday we did 2.81, Saturday was 3km which technically brought us to the end of our challenge.* (In fact, we only needed .29km on Saturday to finish.)

I say technically because I didn’t realize the settings in the app wouldn’t carry over from my other, year-long, challenge and the Sniffari was pulling Apple Health step data.

I didn’t actually want to include steps from things like walking around the house or the grocery store but because they automatically uploaded at the end of each day, I didn’t realize they were being rolled into my total and I was surprised to find out that I was finished.

Once I figured out why I had finished a day early, I calculated my actual distances and then added extra amounts to my daily walks for the next few days to match the way I wanted things to play out.

No matter the details of the challenge, on Saturday I realized something important.

These longer walks were making me feel great.

I mean, I generally enjoy going for a walk – even when I have to drag myself out for them – but this was a different kind of enjoyment.

I was starting to feel those kind of intangible benefits I get when I exercise regularly – a looser feeling in my hips, a certain ease of movement, an overall feeling of wellbeing – after only 3 days of extra effort.

That seemed kind of quick but I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in its proverbial mouth here. Instead, I decided to keep building momentum.

So, on Sunday, we walked 4.42km and, on Monday, we walked 4.08km, and it felt purposeful, straightforward, and kind of tiring – but in a good way.

And, on top of that, all of this extra movement seems to have flipped a mental switch for me and I have found myself doing a bit more yoga, a few more strength training exercises, taking a few extra trips up the stairs, and adding mobility exercises while I am doing things around the house.

So, it seems that, like the title says, moving more makes me want to move more.

And I like it!

Of course, I know that this has happened to me before – I’ve gotten into an exercise routine, started to feel the effects, been enjoying myself, and then something has gone sideways and I lost momentum or had to change gears.

So, I have told myself to keep an eye out for when that happens and in the meantime I am developing some backup plans.

I’ll let you know how it all goes, obviously. 🙂

a photo of a dog next to a small river
a photo of Khalee, my medium-sized dog with short, light-brown hair on most of her body and white paws, tail, and face, standing next to a river on a bright, sunny day. She is sort of side on and she’s facing the left side of the photo. She has a harness and leash on. She’s standing on dried grass and mud, the river next to her is filled with brownish red rocks and there are trees and more dried grass and mud on the other side of the river.
health · mindfulness

Meaningful May? Sounds Great!

Christine Hennebury1 Comment

I’m a few days late for the new Action for Happiness monthly calendar but I really love the idea of Meaningful May.

I’m not one of those people who insists that every single moment must be saturated with meaning but I am one of those people who thinks that any given ordinary moment could be meaningful – and I firmly believe that meaning is worth seeking/creating.

So, obviously, I’m a fan of the tiny daily ideas that this month’s Action for Happiness calendar provides for seeking meaning in the ordinary.

I like all of the suggestions but I find the idea of making ‘a list of the things that matter to me and why’ especially appealing.

Which Meaningful May tip appeals to you the most?

a calendar of tips about finding meaning in the ordinary for May 2026
A daily calendar for May 2026 from Action for Happiness. The individual blocks are pink, red, light blue, or darker blue and there is a tip for seeking meaning typed into each one. The edge of the calendar is decorated with simple cartoon images of things like a cup of tea, a paper airplane, a person on a bike, or a few planets. At the bottom of the calendar the words ‘Happier. Kinder. Together’ appear in green.

PS – If you want to hear a bit more about Meaningful May, check out the Action for Happiness video below “How to find meaning in the past, present and future. Meaningful May with Vanessa King.

A video from Action for Happiness featuring Vanessa King, a white woman with shoulder length hair and a bright expression on her face looking directly at the camera with a few plants and an old black and white photo of a couple on their wedding day. on the right ide of the image is text reading “Finding Meaning: 3 top tips with Vanessa King.”