Don't do more than you have to!

"Don't do more than you have to. Why tire yourself out?"

This was said to me by another swimmer yesterday in the pool at my masters swim class.

I came a little late to my class and my coach gave me my drill. I have bad short term memory, so I asked the swimmer next to me, "It's 200 kick, right?" She said, "Um no, it's 100." But I was pretty sure the coach had told me 200 and maybe she did because I was a little late or because I need more practice than the other lady who knows. That's when she said the comment above.

It was an innocent enough comment. She wasn't trying to have me cheat on my laps or be deceitful. Nothing like that, but that comment really got me thinking.

I have been a person who has always cut corners, procrastinated, and really only did what I had to to get by. "Don't do more than you have to" was pretty much my life motto. I am very creative person, so I could always skim by because whatever I did was still creative, but now I think how much I was selling myself short. I could have done so much more. I could have been so much more productive. I could have accomplished so much more in my life, but I was living the comment, Don't do more than you have to.

As I continued to swim I really thought about the type of person I am becoming and the type of person I want to be. I no longer want to skim by in life. I no longer want to only do what I have to do. I want to be the best mom and wife EVER. I want to be the healthiest I can be. I want to be the best triathlete that I can be. I want to be the best teacher I can be. I want to be the best in all that I do.

Here are some things that I am going to do to become all of those things that I want to become:

-I will make my house a priority. Those of you that know me know that my house is always cluttered. I have a friend that starting helping me last week and will be back this week to continue to help me clean out the junk. Once the junk is cleaned out I will have a routine of cleaning every morning and night to keep it that way.

-I will not spend as much time on the computer (cough cough facebook cough cough) or watch as much TV. Side note: I will not be giving up certain shows, but I will make sure my commitments are completed before watching them. My coach told me recently that Ironman athletes don't watch TV they are out doing something. I want to be an Ironman. I'm not waiting for my Ironman training to start to start acting like one, so I will not be watching as much TV.

-I will not eat for emotional reasons anymore. I have pretty much stopped doing it, but it still creeps up on me from time to time. I have a grief counseling class that I am attending to help me grieve my mother's death, which I never did and I will be starting regular counseling in the next couple weeks. I will not let my mental issues hinder my weight loss journey anymore. Food will not solve these issues. I am committed to hitting these issues head on not matter how hard it is, so that this will not keep me from my health goals anymore. Food does not solve problems.

- I am committing to following through on what professional people ask me to do. I have not been good at going to the doctor on a regular basis and when I have I don't always follow through on what they say. I haven't always listened to what my chiropractor has told me to do. My coach before Bob told me once he was frustrated with me. I was complaining about a pain in my foot. He asked me what has your doctor said. I told him I hadn't gone. He asked me what my chiropractor said and I told him, "To ice it every night." He asked me, "when is the last night you iced it?" I told him, "Three nights ago." He told me that if I am not willing to do what people say why even bother going to them and told me I was not allowed to complain to him unless I was following through on what they were saying. That has stuck with me and I am doing a lot better with this. I just had a physical, which I hadn't had in about 2 years and blood drawn which I hadn't had done in 3 years.

-I am not going to procrastinate anymore (starting tomorrow HAHA). This has been a problem my whole life. I still fall into this problem sometimes, but I am slowly getting better.

-I am committing to not being late anymore. A lot of time my procrastination or my being on the computer causes me to be late, so if I work on those areas I feel this area will get better.


These are the things that I was thinking about for the rest of my swim. In fact at one point I was so deep in thought, while doing the backstroke, that I BONKED my head really hard on the wall. I mean so hard that I got an instant headache. Who would have thought that one comment, "Don't do more than you have to" would have spurred me on so much. I'm glad she said it and I'm glad I didn't listen to her. I will not just do the littlest possible anymore. As the great Dr. Phil would ask, "How's that been working for you?" Not very well, not very well. I'm excited about this next phase of my life.


Oh yeah, just a couple of none deep thought:

I swam in this swim yesterday 1750 yards. That's the farthest I've swam yet. Coach Bob let me know that I swam a 1/2 Ironman distance yesterday. That has me so excited. 25 yards used to be hard and now I can go almost 100 yards without stopping. Go me.

Also, the picture above is the picture of my new goggles. Someone stole my other goggles off a bench in the locker room. I heart my new pair. They are awesome!! And as far as my goggles being stolen, I just figure that person needed them more than me.