February Funk…:-0

Well although February may be the shortest month of the year I vote to just skip it all together. We have had a very ROUGH winter in the Chicago area but even so I was on my game. I sailed through the holidays wonderfully and stayed pretty much on track. Then new year came with great gusto

With the wonderful incentive of my SPAT (SparkPeople Activity Tracker) I pushed on into January. I began to push for 10,000 steps a day and each day continued, not wanting to break the streak. I was successful to complete the whole month of January with 31 days of 10,000+ steps per day. I have to admit that shoveling snow was a great help - LOL

But then, I attempted to switch it up a bit for February…not such a grand idea as I look back now over the past 23 days… I was going to settle back and try to incorporate some strength and flexibility into my activity and shoot for minutes of activity over steps conquered.

So in my return this time around, since returning to SP on 11/12/13 my new way of thinking has stayed true to ~ small steps equal long lasting results vs. large steps equals’ total burn out! Well at least that has worked for me, but then February hit. And for those of you who go to the gym, I’m sure you too have noticed a real decline of activity swarming the machines of late - right?

My reality check now on the 23rd of February is that I have NOT been active with any strength training nor much on flexibility with the exception of my usual once a week Yoga class, which I’ve been doing for over a year. So what the %$^ happened? I’m calling it the February Funk! Or maybe I should rename it to the February skunk! Because this month for me has STUNK! Oh I got my minutes in, but…my whole psyche has been in a real “funk” this whole month of February. I’ve been spiraling down, down, down into a big black abyss. And I began to come up with excuses such as…

1) Valentine’s Day
2) Winter Blues
3/ SAD - Seasonal affective disorder
4) Freezing Temps and TONS of SNOW
5) Coming up to the anniversary of husband’s death

You name it and I gave excuses to why I’ve been in a FUNK and MIA here as well. But then it occurred to me, “what was different this month from last few months?” And WHALA…it jumped out at me like a polar bear on ice. I wasn’t getting outside, no fresh air, even if it’s cold, no sunshine - a lack of drive, which just amplified the spiraling downhill faster.

So last night I pushed myself to get out and walk again…didn’t quite do 10,000 steps but just to get my self out the door was a real effort. Today I have over 9,500 steps and will complete my 10,000 today. So guess for me I need to keep on walking…and walk on a daily basis or else the black abyss will swallow me whole. So I am hoping the increased walking again will bring me out of this funk and lighten my spirits real soon, because we all know the groundhog saw his shadow - so winter is here to stay for a while more - but I can’t take much more of February like it’s been here for me. So I’m opting to just cancel February all together and get on with March! How many more days til spring???