I am excited to share today’s guest post from Kim Lloyd of Kim Lloyd Fitness. If you are like me, March is feeling less than inspiring. Whether you need to take on your emotional health or fitness goals (and those are related!), check out Kim’s awesome advice: Motivation is tough. Especially on a Wednesday in March with another massive snowstorm bearing down on us. Work out? Yeah, more like wrap up in a blanket next to the wood stove and snuggle in with a good book. Even if you are not predisposed to depression, there will come a point in your fitness journey when you begin to doubt the process. You will put on a pair of shorts from last summer and they will still feel snug. Maybe you lost 10 pounds in the first two months but the scale has     . . . read more

Do you hold yourself to high standards? Do you value quality work and good follow through from others? Do you expect the same of yourself? I can relate. I spent much of my life through early adulthood gripping white knuckled to these values. What were supposed to be the glory days of college carried a lot of extraneous stress and pressure to perform well academically at the expense of enjoying the experience as a whole. I found that there is a cost to the pursuit of perfection. Holding yourself to the highest standards all the time creates a great amount of stress and anxiety. Perfectionism can quickly lead to self criticism and difficulties in accepting and valuing yourself just for being you. It can also lead to difficulties in relationships. Ever notice that you hold those you care most about to exceptionally high standards as     . . . read more

I stopped blogging a few months ago to pursue what turned out to be a fairly involved personal project: baby #2. She arrived just before Thanksgiving and has brought a joyful chaos with her. I started wanting to write again a few weeks back, but there was always stuff to do. I kept thinking: maybe I’ll write when my laundry pile is gone. Or my paperwork pile. Or when I’ve slept through a night. So here’s my blog post. I must be doing great, accomplishing those thing, right? NOPE. Not even close. I’ve got lots of piles and minimal connected sleep. The truth is I’m not going to have everything done. There is no immediate future involving all things cleanly squared away while I sit down to write. So here I stand (literally I’m standing), dishes in the sink, laundry     . . . read more

I’m not making a resolution this year. Some years I’m into it. Sometimes I feel like it’s a good opportunity to reflect and form new habits. This year is different. I just feel like I’m at max capacity. I’m not willing to add anything new because there is nothing I really truly want to subtract. So maybe I do have a resolution: accept and honor the real limits of time, energy, and focus. I’ve pushed myself to do a little more, and a little more, until… I’m at the limit of what one person can reasonably do. I think it’s a fine place to be: maintaining a delicate balance of doing a fulfilling amount of work without consistently over-doing it. I think it’s wise to know our true limits. We can only do so much in a day, week, or     . . . read more

A post for grown ups only due to realistic (okay, okay… inappropriate) language. Change is hard and maintaining motivation over a long period of time is a classic human difficulty. I believe that if you are going to invest in a key life change, you want to think about starting in a way that will set you up for long-term success. Building a strong foundation for change requires intentional thought. Why? Because sooner or later the usual suspects come knocking on your door: stress, fatigue, pressure, social situations, burn-out, and lack of preparedness. When that moment comes, and it always does, two little words stand between all your hard work and the impending self-sabotage. Fuck it. Those two words cue the U-turn into setback city, often to get lost and not re-emerge to changeville for a long time. Real change     . . . read more