Healthy Pursuits: Wandering Off and Coming Back

So yeah, in this week's shameless attempt to take a bunch of random stuff and force it into a theme...

Have you ever noticed that life is sometimes a lot more like a circle than a straight line?

We don't so much take off in a straight path with the "old" behind us and the "new" in front of us.  Instead, we circle around, visiting new things and returning to old things, and we just hope like hell that there's some interior growth along the way so that each cycle adds more awesomeness and less screwing up.

Or hell, lets call it a Spiral rather than a circle.  Because not only can you add another dimension and make it pretty, it comes with the whole fancy transtheoretical theory of change attached to it and makes a blog post sound more sciencey!

Anyway, all this leads to four thoughts I wanted to share:


1.  In your quest to lead a healthier and happier life, you could find yourself back in a place you've been before. Do not despair!

This could be on purpose, like when a new dog learns old tricks, or this could be unintentional and feel f--cked up, like the whole two steps forward, one step backward, three more steps backward, huge temper tantrum, five steps forward thing.  (Wait, that's not how you're supposed to do it?)

In any event, if you think of change as a spiral in which you could be ascending even as you are circling...then you can "be" at the same place, but at the same time "not be" at the same place at all!

Remember, you have a whole different brain now that knows more things, and has a whole different way of processing the same obstacles, setbacks, and triumphs. So the new experience of a familiar place can be a whole different adventure, with a new perspective and possibly new options.

The trick is to avoid just doing the zombie thing and going through the same old motions unconsciously. Wise brains are for USING, not snacking on.

2. This is one of those sneaky "I'm wandering off" for yet another vacation blog posts.

And yeah, I'm always wandering off from the blog for one reason or another, because hey, I'm spoiled and slothful and am incredibly fortunate and have no intention of blogging at the beach. But at least this time we've a couple of great guest posts coming up and I'm leaving you in good hands.

And it's another example of "same but different."  Because yeah, these pre-vacation photos are from last year's Budget Hawaiin Fitness Vacation and the Lobster and I are Coming Back to Hawaii again, hooray!

 

Best Traveling Companion Evah

And yep, some things don't change. It is yet another cheapskate adventure (off-season roundtrip air for $300 bucks! Condo shared with pals at $50/night per couple! Friend in the rental car business! Costco runs and picnics on the agenda rather than fancy restaurants!)

A Mai Tai please! Oh crap... Forgot to bring a waiter. Or a bar. 

On the other hand, we are going to a different island (Maui this time, last time was Big Island) and are vacationing with our San Diego posse rather than beloved Mother in Law, so it will be a different and possibly rowdier adventure. Plus every year I am less of a stressbucket worrywart, so this could be kinda awesome!

3.  Quick Question for Regular Cranky Fitness Commenters: Do you "Come Back?"

So most people who show up at Cranky Fitness are just googling something like "hysterectomy recovery" or "best weight loss blogs" or, here's a recent one I can relate to, "heart rate monitors that can be read without reading glasses" ... but these visitors arrive, look around, think "sheesh it's weird here!" and never return.

However, some of you stop by and comment. I love that!

And some of you even stop by and comment, and then Come Back later to see if there has been further discussion.  I love that even more!  I can't tell you how grateful I am for the sense of community it brings to have a little back and forth down in the comments.  Especially with the shitty blogger interface that makes it difficult to figure out how to subscribe to comments (it is, however, possible).

Sadly, I rarely "come back" myself on other blogs, I am just too time-management challenged to be able to pull it off. Which of course makes me even more grateful for the returning folks here.

But anyway, lately I've been going old school here at Cranky Fitness and trying to reply to more comments, at least on posts that are recent and not giveaways. Sometimes I do so right away, but often I get behind and don't get around to it for a day or two.

So, duh: I am fully aware that all this leads to about 9/10 of the reply comments I leave not being read.  Which is not exactly efficient!

I have no idea what I'm going to do about this in the long run.  It starts to get weird when you reply to most, but not all comments, though I do skip folks with links to commercial sites.

But I'm thinking at least:

If any of you cherished regulars want to let me know if you sometimes come back to read replies, or, alternatively, if you are like me and almost never come back because you are understandably busy, that would be helpful information!

4.  I'm Excited about Going on Vacation, But Also Really Excited About Coming Back!

So this is me waving goodbye and hello again, as one of the best things about returning from a vacation is picking back up with everyone here. You guys ROCK!!

Zombie photo:brooklyntyger
Spiral image: entirely subjective

How 'bout you guys, any thoughts about Wandering Off or Coming Back?