Rewards and Success

After 18 years I am now officially back to the rank that I left the military in. It was Air Force Captain at that time and as of Friday, I am a Naval Lieutenant.  I feels good.  The past 3 years have been some of the most stressful (work related) that I have ever been through. That being said, the bigger the success, the harder the work to get there.  The relief that I now feel is impossible to truly describe.

Focus now is on the house/yard.  Lucy (our Golden Retriever puppy) is a digger and has commenced destruction on the back yard.  We also put up a chain link fence with the help of some great friends. However, Lucy has already managed to dig her way under some areas to escape.  We have some left over sections of chain link and are trying to double up some areas to prevent her from going under them. It is a 2 person job and with both Cynthia and I working and the sun going down earlier and earlier, it has proven to be a challenge to get it done.  She is working today, but only until 2pm, so the plan is to get as much done as we can when she gets home.  I have also emptied an entire bag of grass seed on the main digging areas as they are now nothing but dirt. Hopefully, the seed will take soon.  We really need to get back to being able to just open the back door and let Lucy out without having to take her on her leash or tied up.

I have lost a fair bit of weight over the past 3 years, but most of that has been when I have been at sea. It was accomplished due to a couple of factors all occurring at the same time. Stress is the first factor.  Being mentally stressed most of the time burns a lot more calories than one might think.  When you are at sea in the Navy, you are always "on" mentally; whether you are on watch or not. This is due to the fact that you are always in uniform and need to be ready to respond to any emergency at any time. The second factor would be a messed up sleep schedule. Due to the fact that my watch schedule was never consistent, my sleep schedule was also never consistent.  One day, I could be on watch from midnight to 4am, and the next day 8pm to midnight and then 4am to 8am.  The third factor was an eating habit.  Don't get me wrong, the cooks on the ship do a good job and I have absolutely no complaints about the food.  For me, I would only eat enough to get me to the next meal and that is it.  I would also avoid dessert (known in the navy as duff).  To do this, I would utilize "urge management".  I would walk up to the dessert tray, take a look at it and then imagine that it sat out for a whole week.  Very quickly, I would not want to eat any of it.  A very useful and effective tool.

The problem that I am facing now is that since I am not sailing and the majority of my stress is over, I need to ensure that I get into an effective work out schedule.  I am finding this extremely challenging with the way my days seem to dissappear.  I know very well that any reason not to be working out is simply an excuse and that I have to put other stuff secondary to working out.  Knowing it and doing it are two entirely different things.  I know that once I start and stick to it for at least a month, then I will have created a habit that will simply be in place.  I am going to start small and work up from there.  My main focus will be core (for my growing belly) and upper body as that has always been my weaker area.

I feel that I put too much on my plate at one time, then get very little accomplished and am unhappy because of it.  I want to blog here more as I know it will help to get my thoughts out of my head and written down. I have taken some books out of the library that I want to read so that I can blog effectively and with some level of excitement.  I want to cook more as I have found that I really enjoy it.  I need to work with Cynthia on a number of things; our budget being the biggest.  I have a new laptop with Windows 7; which I have never used before and want to learn as much as I can about it (books from library again).  Helping more with keeping the house tidy and clean. I always feel better after I clean the house.

Another thing that has plagued me that I want to figure out is music on iTunes.  I want to be effective on getting songs and getting them into the correct folders in iTunes without having to do a bunch of moving, copying and what seems to be excessive work.  Internet research is good for this, but I need to find the time and know that in reality it is a very low priority.

Anyway, I am going to stop right here before this gets so long that no one would read it. Besides, I need to keep some stuff to type next time.

Halloween decorating and pumpkin carving tonight!!

I hope everyone has a fantastic day!!