My favorite Disney animated film is Alice in Wonderland. I know that’s a hot take, but there it is. There’s a scene in the movie where Alice, floating in a bottle through a sea of her own tears, gets washed ashore during the “jolly caucus-race”, where the other animals try to get dry even though they are continually being soaked by incoming waves. They get dry to get wet again to get dry only to get wet over and over and over. In their own joyfully sung words, “never a beginning, there can never be a stop.”
Actual depiction of my life right now.
I feel like I’ve been running my own jolly caucus race, only replace “jolly” with “maddening”. During my last Getting Fit post, I was excited because I had spent weeks gathering data to figure out what my daily steps goals should be to challenge and make progress, while also being realistic. I was pumped to share them with y’all, and I was even more pumped to do the work.
That post was March 16th. The world looked very different on March 16th. School had been canceled through April 6th, which was a precaution we here in the B household took very seriously. I don’t know what I thought about life past April 6th, though. That on April 6th the current situation would just magically improve and we could all go about our days? That seems naive now, but on March 16th it seemed optimistic. It became very clear, in the coming weeks, that my dream of adding another workout class and getting in another solo walk each week were not going to happen. The schools added more closure time, the gym added more closure time, and Mr. B was working more than ever.
Trying to make the best of a wet jog in circles, I figured I could make it work at home. There were YouTube videos. There were workout DVDs. People work out all the time by themselves in a living room with three children trying to destroy them. As the song says…
Forward, backward, inward, outward
Come and join the chase!
Nothing could be drier
Than a jolly caucus-race.
Backward, forward, outward, inward
Bottom to the top,
Never a beginning
There can never be a stop
I would make myself dry each day, even if the waves were approaching. I could do it!
That determination lasted about three days. Then I fell face first in the mud and starfish gleefully danced over my fallen body.
This is fine.
It was just impossible to get through one work out video. Like, a three minute video produced 18 various child needs. Nothing seemed to be going right for me. It rained for week 12, snowed for week 13 (Midwest living), and week 14 was just a puddle of mud. Every time I tried to get some kind of physical activity, I was knocked over by a wave of other, more pressing issues.
What to do, I wondered. Give up? Accept defeat? Live here in this mud and let the waves crash over me?
Nah.
I’ve seen too many Disney movies to quit that easily. Like Alice, I just needed to break out of the cycle and keep following the White Rabbit.
And also like Alice, maybe I need to mentally readjust and let myself focus a little more on the journey and a little less on the destination.
So I’m going to post my new goals. Right now. And I’m going to try to achieve those goals each day, each week. But I’m also going to be real with myself that I am in a strange land where things seems to change by the hour. Sometimes I might hit my step goals. And sometimes I might get caught up in a tea party with three demanding little party goers. One step at a time, in any direction, is still a step.
New Step Goals
- Mondays: 5400 steps
- Tuesdays: 5100 steps
- Wednesdays: 5400 steps
- Thursdays: 5100 steps
- Fridays: 7000 steps
- Saturdays: 5000 steps
- Sundays: 7000 steps
- Total Steps: 40,000
Feeling great about these goals. This puts me at an increase of 500 steps from last month overall, and it gives me the flexibility to increase my step goals by the day moving forward.
As you can probably guess by the face in the mud analogy, I did just a so-so job on hitting these goals. But, any step is a good step, so here were my best weeks for each goal.
Week 12
- Overall Steps: 31,944 steps
This week started out so strong! I was so determined. But those waves came fast and crashed card.
Week 13
- Overall Steps: 25, 617 steps
This was probably the hardest week in terms of morale. Like, one day I forgot to put my Fitbit on at all and when the Glass Slipper asked where my watch was I was like, “Who even knows? Round and round and round we go and dance forevermore, once we were behind but now we find that we’re before.” And she just laughed. Week 13 was a wet one.
Week 14
- Overall Steps: 23, 374 steps
This week was like I couldn’t decide if I was more a Week 12 kinda gal or a Week 13 kinda gal. One day I was backward, one day I was foreward, one day I was inward, one day I was outward.
- Monday: 5400 Steps
Best Week: Week 12, 5533 steps
- Tuesday: 5100 steps
Best Week: Week 12, 4663 steps
- Wednesday: 5400 steps
Best Week: Week 12, 7050 steps
- Thursday: 5100 steps
Best Week: Week 12, 3733 steps
- Friday: 7000 steps
Best Week: Week 13, 3721 steps
- Saturday: 5000 steps
Best Week: Week 12, 4877 steps
- Sunday: 7000 steps
Best Week: Week 13, 3708 steps
I would love to know how you are keeping up with your fitness journey? How many of you are being Queens with your routines? And how many of you are like me, just trying to follow a white rabbit? And how many of you have jolly caucus race stuck in your head? Tell me down below!
Kristen B. is wife to the best Prince around, mama to the spunkiest little princesses, and lover of all things Disney. She started her savings journey five years ago and is now dedicated to making her family’s wishes come true one coupon at a time. She is so excited to take her love of saving to the next level and share her journey with you! Click here to catch up on Kristen’s Savings and join in on your own savings adventure!
Shelley says
Kristin, as famous little fish (DORY) says “Just Keep Swimming”…
You are young, & have 3 little ones… Make your exercise time FUN & include them…. DANCE DANCE DANCE… when I owned the daycare (think 6 under 5yo).we did 20-30 minutes of dancing every day we made up funny moves to Christian children songs (you cant get to heaven on roller skates, the wise man built his house upon the rock, Abraham had many sons I am one and so are you, LOrd told Noah to build an Arky Arky, are I few I remember). I wore ankle & arm weights for extra resistance. we also played games like red rover, red light green light, mother may I, Simon says, I played also, the older kids like “being in charge of how the game was played. Exercise doesn’t need to be structured, it just needs to get you moving. Now I am a TA & have a wood working business, so “play”time doesnt exist… I push move the yard (2/3 acre – 1/3 acre on 2 different days axp 4K each day), play tug of war with the dogs to work my biceps, run the steps (14) 3X a day every 2 hrs (you could make this a relay race you against the kids) forward, backward, army crawl, crab walk. be a DORY just keep Moving Just keep Moving
Kristen says
Shelley, I loved this! Thank you for the encouragement. I definitely thought about “just keeping swimming” all this past week!