January Blahs

January always seems to be a long cold month. It features the letdown from the Holiday season, the extra pounds picked up during the binge eating over Christmas and of course the prospect of resolutions and keeping or breaking them.  My mood becomes more prickly than usual and I moan and groan about small insignificant things, I know it is happening but can't seem to stop myself.

One thing that does cheer me up is looking at sunny summertime pictures. I thought I would share a few...they might cheer you up as well.

Beautiful LaHave River

Outside of Bridgewater NS

Wild Apple Blossoms along the LaHave River in Spring 2010

The ''Old'' Ferry before it was replace in 2010

Healthy Workplace, healthy workers

More and more we are hearing how stress can impact the health of individuals. Some of that stress may be generated at work, but in tough economic times financial concerns can also generate a lot of stress. This stress carries into the workplace.

A few of the symptoms of stress are:

• Irritability
• Lack of appetite or Overeating
• Lack of energy
• Lack of interest  in people and events
• Physical illness, stomach upset, headaches, muscle aches and pains
• and the list goes on. 

Business owners can offer some help and support to employees through an employment assistance program that offers counseling of various kinds. This may be provided through a group insurance benefit package.

January and February are often difficult months because of the reduced hours of daylight and the let down after the holiday season. New years resolutions are often forgotten by the third or fourth week of the new year and this can lead to despondency. 

Simple things in the workplace can encourage workers to improve their health. For example a walking program can be organized where all workers are encouraged to track how many steps they take each day. Or a weight loss group can be organized during a lunch hour or before work. The employer can provide the scales and ask three or four interested workers to help with the organizational tasks.  For example TOPS has a great workplace program that anyone can join for $ 30.00 a year membership. Details can be found at
http://www.tops.org/default.aspx

Employers have a responsibility to encourage their employees to be healthy...healthy workers help build a healthy workplace with fewer accidents, fewer sick days, and better morale. 

Getting on with 2011

I have spent the first three weeks of 2011 wishing and thinking. Now is the time for doing.

Physiotherapy is Finished

The weekly visits to the hospital's physiotherapy department have finished but the exercises and the challenges of getting my strength and flexibility in my leg muscles is an ongoing challenge. I can feel improvement and for that I am thankful.

The structure of my work week has changed. I am now working Tues, Wed and Thurs each week, and Wed is working from home. So only two trips into the office most weeks. I am actually looking forward to the change of getting out of the office and visiting the chamber's members and calling on businesses to get them signed up as members. The plan is for that to be 3 to 4 hours a week. So my real in office time will only be 1.5 days if that. Meeting time for committees or board meetings reduces that office time even further.

January is always a hard month for me. Short days with limited sunlight and winter well settled in with its grip on almost everything I do. On a positive note, January is half over and we have had only one snow storm so far this winter. Last night and today are above freezing temps so a lot of that snow fall has melted, hopefully more will go before the -5 to -10 night temps return. 

All in all, January has been good so far. I am looking forward to 2011 and everything it will offer.

Super Day

Today was a day of change and hurry up and wait. I awoke at 5:00 a.m. so got up and started working on the BACC newsletter, finalizing it for mailing to our list.  The next "must do" was a trip to Liverpool for my physiotherapy appointment and I got the good news that I have made a lot of progress in just three days. That was definitely encouraging. Then into Bridgewater for lunch, errands and then home. The trees along the way were covered with a light dusting of snow, grey overcast skies and the feeling of winter in the air. I took a few pictures for "my photo journal" that I am keeping on another of my blogs http://artisticpreneur.blogspot.com..  I am having some fun with the photographs and I am starting to "see" my surroundings. 

I will be working 20 hours a week for the next few weeks, not a significant reduction in my existing hours which works well for me. I am looking forward to having my job description defined so I know what is expected.

All in all a good day so far.  Oh, the traffic to my blogs is starting to increase.

January 5, 2011

Tuesday morning was my first physiotherapy appointment in 2011 and my first appointment with Donna who will now be my go to person. My back has been sore for four or five days, tight and painful to do simple things like walking. I had stopped my exercises as they seemed to be aggravating the problem and I wasn't sure if that is what I should have done, so I was a bit apprehensive about the appointment.

It only took Donna about 15 seconds to figure out what was wrong and what had caused it. Seems the muscles in the hip area should be both strong and flexible. Mine are neither. My exercises were to build strength but I hadn't been doing anything to increase the flexibility so my back was taking the brunt of a lot of my moving activities. So now I am back to some really basic stuff to help improve flexibility. I have an idea that it will take me as long to learn to walk correctly this time as it did when I was a toddler and anxious to explore the world from an upright position.

I have another appointment for Friday am.  Two appointments a week, for a while. Oh joy! However, I will do what is required to get my old body whipped into the best shape it can manage. 

Back to the Future

Well back to work and normal routine. It certainly has been great having a few days out of the office, although I have spent part of most days in my home office at my own computer, writing blogs, newsletters and catching up on a training CD development project. But today is another clean slate and I am off to the physiotherapist for an 8:00 am appointment and then to work.

I sprained/twisted my back (self diagnosed) and have been having some pain and discomfort, hopefully my exercises this morning won't aggravate the situation. Seems to be more in the back area than in the hip which is a blessing...don't want anything to happen to that bionic hip.

It will be interesting to see what this year will bring. I am looking forward to some changes, house renovations or improvement, and some fun, short mini vacations and maybe getting plans underway for a can trip to Vancouver Island and return. Not this year probably 2012 or spring of 2013. But there is a lot to do before then.

I will find out about my work hours later this week or early next week.  I also need to find time (make time) to get to the quilting projects that I want to get developed. And of course it is good to be blogging about business topics on a sister blog.

Life is good and getting better!

Doing the Same Thing Doesn't Work

I have been a faithful member of TOPS for four years.  In that time I have managed to lose a few pounds but I have also gotten caught up in the trappings of the organization.  By that I mean I volunteered to be an area captain, for several reasons, and while I did enjoy most of the experience I have resigned from that volunteer position.  The expectations were high, my own and the organization's. I have always felt that if I am to commit to something I must meet all the requirements and I came to the realization that I would never be able to meet all the expectations that were part of that position. Not that the TOPS organization was complaining, they weren't. But I didn't feel I could accomplish what the position needed.


There is also the expectations of the weekly meetings.  It isn't a matter of going and getting weighed, having a discussion about how to improve the next week.  Our chapter spends a lot of time as a group.  There is the annual 10 Km walk, which because of severe arthritis I haven't been able to participate in. There are the cute phrases, I've been a bad girl this week.  For pete's sake we are all seniors so what is it with the bad girl phrase.  Just because someone ate a piece of pie that doesn't make them a bad anything. Christmas parties are centred around food...a meal at a restaurant and a pot luck.

The conclusion that I have finally reached is that doing the same thing and expecting different results is a sign of insanity. I know that isn't original but it does apply to me and my weight loss/weight control efforts to date. Maybe giving myself time to feel good about who I am and what I am will go a long way to helping me control my weight.  Gee you think?

2011 will be an exciting year. I am ready for new ideas, and new experiences.  New books, new hobbies and new friends.Of course, there are many friends that I want to keep and that I hold very dear, they are important to me.  It will be interesting to see how this new year unfolds.