My Journey With Health And Fitness – Staying Positive

So yesterday my husband and I decided to do the Polar Bear swim, a fun tradition that has been done for over a century at home. We’ve done it a few times here in Mexico and usually go to a beach so that we can go in the Caribbean Sea which is nice and warm. Ok, I admit that is a bit different than going into the Pacific Ocean but hey, we are still participating. But yesterday we decided to go in our pool instead. Please know that our pool is like a lazy river pool and is not heated which means this time of year it is freezing cold. I braved the ice water first followed by my husband. I can proudly say I lasted about 10 seconds where as he didn’t even make it 5 seconds. It was hysterical watching the videos afterwards.

I’m finding that the world is getting really scary. There are wars, extremist groups, countries divided, the increase is racism, islamaphobia, homophobia and many other frightening things out there right now. The December 31st terrorist attacks are just one more example of such bad things happening in the world. And to make it even worse, in my opinion, politicians use events such as this to throw dirt on their opposition (seriously, somehow the US border issues played a role in in the New Orleans attack even though the perpetrator was born in the US and even served in their military).

I’m realizing that in order to not let all of the things going on take over too much space in my head, I have to find ways to stay positive. If I start thinking about all the dark things going on around me I fear I will go into serious depression. And so that means finding ways to stay positive. It really is not that bad, all I need to do each day is try and think about something good. I do admit that some days doing so is harder than others but most days I am able to do it.

While I am here in Mexico I think it is a bit easier because the weather is so sunny and warm. At home it can often be cold or even worse, days and days of rainfall. But there are other things here that help me to stay positive. One of the big ones is my cats whom I have been feeding again this week. As a matter of fact as of today they are all accounted for with the exception of the condo kitty who has moved to a new home. I had to laugh as I am convinced there is some sort of kitty communications network here and the cats have all gotten the word because they watch for me and come running when they see me. I also make sure that I am still working out at least 2 hours every day and I know that exercising really helps lift the weight of heavy thoughts.

I’m determined to stay positive. It doesn’t mean ignoring bad things happening around me, it just means protecting myself by being both physically and mentally fit.