Fitbits, Fuel Bands and Loads of Laundry

Some time back I was introduced to the Nike Fuel Band. It seemed like a pretty remarkable tool. As a personal trainer I hear from clients such remarks as, "I move all of the time!" "I exercise daily." However, due to some meager federal laws I am unable to put tracking devices on my clients and video monitoring in their home just seems invasive. So after 13 years of becoming a near detective I was excited to find there was a borderline tracking device that was, at least. socially acceptable for me to monitor. I ran, literally, right out and purchased a Fuel Band. At $149.00 this thing had practically move for me! After six months of wearing it, a borderline obsessive compulsive disorder with tracking my "fuel points," and three replacements due to it breaking all of the time, I determined that unless the store manager at Nike in downtown Portland either became strikingly good looking I was ready to move on.

• Fitbit

Hark! The Fitbit (One)! At a whopping $99.95 (Why don't they just call it what it is?! $100!) I clipped it to my pants and was on my way to a promising more motivated January. I was excited to see the FitBit also tracked calories consumed, steps walked, floors climbed and hours of sleep logged. It seemed like the all around better looking best friend to my retired Fuel Band.

As I logged and tested and logged and retested the validity of this handy dandy device at the scrutiny of anyone who noticed it attached to my hip I became even more obsessive. I am naturally, or really unnaturally a pretty energetic person. I jump out of bed at 4:30 am and hit the floor running. I can be seen seated, never, or possibly if I'm being held captive and tied to a chair. I have a healthy love of TV and generally participate in said hobby while on the treadmill or while sweeping, mopping or folding laundry. Which brings me to my obsessive compulsive activity. Folding laundry. I used to fold laundry while watching....whatever struck my fancy and now I find myself folding a shirt and then walking it into my room putting it in said drawer and walking back for the next article of clothing. It has become a regular workout and although my carpets are going to need to be replaced every six months I am a rock star in the Fitbit world! I know because my Fitbit app said so!

And then it happened....

I lost the charger to my Fitbit. I'm telling you losing my child in the grocery store brought less angst into my life than misplacing that blasted charging dock!!! I searched for that thing for days! Ok, about an hour before I figured logging points for moving, particularly on a ten mile run seemed ridiculous at best. I survived three days without that wonderful gem. And here is what I learned about myself. I stopped folding laundry all together. In fact, there is a mountain of laundry on my couch that I'm certain one of my children is hiding under. I will only walk into another room if I have a minimum of four things to do when I get there and I haven't checked my mail in days. Walking to the mailbox for bills doesn't bring me the Fitbit "high five" it used to bring me.

Sooooo.....

Yes, these handy dandy devices are helpful. Although, spending a whopping a hundred plus dollars (excuse me $99.95 in the Fit Bit One's case) for a glorified pedometer seems a bit much. Yes, you can log your food into an app on your phone. Hurray, except you can do this on a piece of paper and after three whole days and you are no longer food logging this feature won't seem so cool. Some models will tell you how you slept. Of course you have to push and hold a button to tell it you are going to bed. And then while your anxiety begins to build as you race the clock to actually fall asleep this feature doesn't seem so cool either. Then there is remembering to push the other button once you have woken up in a tired stupor. Good luck with that one. So you will find that the 12 hours and 22 min of sleep with 22 active minutes and 72 times of restlessness is almost more productive than your actual daily activity. Floors climbed, although cool, isn't really necessary unless you are competing in your annual Skyscraper Stair Climb. So in the long run...glorified, fancy shmancy pedometer it is! With  $15.95 in your back pocket you can purchase the not so fancy shmancy pedometer from Amazon.

Good luck in any and all of your endeavors and remember that sometimes moving more isn't always the key. Particularly if you are moving more while eating donuts and coffee...

P.S. It should also be noted that I found the charging dock to my Fitbit. You can breathe a sigh of relief. And then precisely 3 months after buying my FitBit it fell off of my pocket and is more than likely attached to, hopefully, a very active Portland homeless person! Do me proud!

Fast Living

Today is the day I change it all! Today I will walk 10,000 steps. I will eat a solid breakfast lunch and dinner. I wont even consider the notion of eating sugar. I will quit smoking. Stop drinking. And just be an all around better person. Before all of you go Face booking that I eat drink and smoke....keep reading.

We all have goals to be better and do better. And by golly we are going to do it all today. Break it off in pieces and tackle them one at a time? Heck no! We want it and we want it now. We want to change and we want to change now. Welcome to our New World Order! Fast! Fast food! Fast parenting! Fast fitness! Fast Internet access. Fast living. Slow the front door down people.

I as much as the rest of you like to move quickly. I walk at break neck speeds and for my meager 5'4" frame. I could rival even the longest of legs in speed. However, sometimes you just need to slow it down. You get 60 seconds a min. 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. That's it!

When I was growing up

Here we go with the, when I was a kid. But it begs to be pointed out. We didn't have freaking COMPUTERS or cell phones, for that matter!!!!! I am 33 years old, not 103. In 15 very short years we have become a bunch of screaming 2 year olds. Seriously! I was seated at a restaurant and this man was throwing a fit that would rival my 2 year old son.. I was certain by this mans flailing arms and convulsing body that someone had spit in his food. His complaint? He had to wait Fifteen minutes for his food. Holy crap! Fifteen minutes?! Let me be crystal clear. If my husband acted like that when I make him dinner I would throw the skillet at his head. What does this guy eat for dinner on a regular basis? Minute meals? And if so, I have my business card he needs. Life doesn't have to serve us quickly all of the time.

Sometimes, you are going to drive behind the little ol' lady that is still in her mind driving on the roads of 1952 and not the 18 lane high ways of today. And unless you are driving your wife to the hospital to give birth, you can take a minute to slow your car down as well.

We want fast, but I'm not entirely certain what we want it for. Where are we getting so much faster? High stress? Anxiety? Depression for not getting life on our terms? Overweight? Irritated? Enjoy when life moves quickly and enjoy it even more when it slows down for you.

It's National Day of Unplugging! So after you read this blog and comment below. Unplug your electronics. Walk slower. Sit down to eat. Drive the speed limit. Do not use your universal sign for "Get off the Freaking road old lady!!!!" Take a breath. Heck some of you need to take twenty. If you are eating out tip your waitress extra because I assure you she has heard at least a few times this week. "MY FOOD TOOK TOO LONG!!!!!"

MARCH 7, 2014 – NATIONAL BE HEARD DAY – NATIONAL DAY OF UNPLUGGING – NATIONAL EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION DAY – NATIONAL CEREAL DAY – NATIONAL CROWN OF ROAST PORK DAY

Community Leads to Honesty

Honesty is a characteristic we spend very little time forging in the fire. Allowing yourself to be honest with another means opening yourself up for someone not agreeing with you. It makes you vulnerable, exposed and defenseless. We all can agree, we would mark honestly as a trait we want in our relationships. However, do we really. I mean really, are we prepared for honesty? We try to be honest. We are taught to be honest. And yet we are never taught to receive an honest answer. Quite frankly we just plain don't want to hear it. We aren't prepared for disagreement and for some reason we take it as a call to arms when someone tells us something we don't want to hear.  Some of us have perfected the fine art of smiling and shrugging when our friends give us an honest answer. But allow an honest answer from Joe Shmoe in the parking lot of Not-a-Ceiling-Nor-A-DoorMart and there may be a throw down.

I have a theory...

Here is the problem...Community. We have very little of this connection any more. We drop our kids off at school and then rush to work. We punch the proverbial clock in and out and then rush back home. We may swing by the grocery store and pick up dinner. Heads buried in our grocery lists. Concerned mainly with the little 'ol lady that has parked her cart in the middle of aisle nine. With a huff we swerve around her b'lining it to check stand number "shortest line." Paper or plastic has replaced, "Hi, how are you doing?" And off we go. We race through the parking lot to get back to the safety of home. Our phones and computers become our connection. A text instead of a phone call of course. We couldnt' possibly be interrupted in the middle of doing nothing. 

Life Experiment

I've spent the better part of the last year determining what is truly important to me. Private school or public? Work or stay-at-home mom? Church or web cast? Book club or independent writing? I longed to be happy. Less stressed. More fulfilled and worthy of the air I breathed. I began to volunteer. I nurtured the relationships I had instead of always feeling the need to be everyone's friend. I made it a point to make it to meetings I had committed to and I stopped multitasking while parenting. I started shopping at my locally owned grocery store and produce stand. And you know what I realized? I longed for community. I was less defensive and more open to others opinions. I saw more communication in these stores. More eye contact and certainly more smiles. Yes, there is still the grumpy shopper that wants to be left alone, but I noticed a difference in my demeanor.

Now don't go getting all worked up thinking I am asking you to never shop at...we will refer to them as Priceco and Not-a-Ceiling-Nor-A-DoorMart. I certainly couldn't be expected to buy my toilet paper at grocery store prices. But here is what you can do to make little changes where you are and where you shop, live and work.

Those people in aisle 21 buying spaghetti sauce in bulk and blocking the way for anyone to pass with their four children live in your community. Or as least near your community. The next time you are tempted to storm past them in a huff because you are in a hurry to go no where fast, stop and acknowledged they exist. Say excuse me to the children because however short they may be, they can still hear and learn from your behavior. Smile at the mother or father who will now go home to make their little ones spaghetti for dinner. The guy at your office that seemed to always have an angry chip on his shoulder and has a bumper sticker stating he votes for the elephant, donkey or Earth. You have a rainbow and he has a thunder cloud. You two couldn't possibly be more different or from different communities, right?! And yet you both work in the same building. Shop at the same grocery store and oddly enough attend the same church! How can this be. You have such different views and yet we find connection and community where we thought it couldn't exist.

We are in this together and once we realize that we all have worries, cares, fears, inconveniences, hurried days, wants, joys, hurts, hopes and dreams it will be much easier to have patience, kindness, greetings, smiles and honesty to share.