Saturday, March 10, 2007

Things Are Getting Better

Thanks for the nice, reassuring comments from my "feeling down" post the other day. I really am feeling better. Because my career is in sales, it's an emotional rollercoaster at times, you don't get deals that you KNOW you should get, and sometimes things fall into place even better than expected. That's what happened yesterday (Friday), I closed a big deal I've been working on for a couple of months. So I'm feeling a bit relieved! I've been ramping up to meet my monthly and quarterly sales quotas these past few months, and it's been really tense. But I think I'm starting to get some traction in my territory and building a client base. So hopefully that trend will continue. I just figure, at this point, whatever is meant to be will be.

Anyhow . . . . I keep reminding myself that while a sales career is stressful it ain't NOTHING compared to the headaches I used to have all those years I was a legal secretary. That's why I switched careers a few years ago and turned to sales. Even though sales can be stressful at times, it's really nothing compared to the "shit rolls downhill" reality that I lived through for years at the various law offices I worked at in the past. So life is better than it used to be, and as long as I can recall my past work life with a shudder -- those remembrances make me relieved to be where I'm at now. How's that for positive thinking by comparison?

Anyhow, I'm feeling better. I just have developed this "whatever will be WILL BE" attitude that is helping me conquer the negative little voice in my head that whispers doubt, fear, insecurity and failure when I let myself get swamped by those things. At times, I just have to do affirmations and mentally assert positive messages over the free-floating negatives ones that sometimes swamp me.

Yesterday, I went to Weight Watchers and the topic was - of all things - "Empowering Beliefs." My leader had a quiz for us to take in four different areas of weight loss success (1) Eating wisely, (2) attending meetings; (3) Belief systems to support weight loss; (4) Exercise. It really takes all four components to successfully lose weight and keep it off! I took the quiz and discovered that my commitment level is at: 65%. Our leader had this "belief level ladder" she put on the board and at 65%, I'm halfway between "I think I might" (be able to achieve this goal) to "I think I might not." Most of my lower scores came in the field of belief system and lack of exercise. That's what brought my scores down, and subsequently, according to this quiz, my level of success. Those are the two areas I need I most need to work on. The good news is that like everything else, a person can change and improve their belief system, and therefore their results! We talked about how we could strengthen the areas we're weak in.

One thing I know that increases my chance of success is planning by making meals and keeping snacks around that I can healthily eat, even when I come home from work hungry and stressed out. Also, the exercise thing - wow, that's the one that really challenges me!!!! I know intellectually that exercising would increase my energy level, raise my metabolism and has more benefits than practically anything else I could do, yet I tend to exercise only once or at most twice a week. Need to do better on that. This week, my goal is to excercise 3 times in one week. I also will start wearing that damned pedometer that I hate - it keeps falling off my pants and clattering to the floor, and it doesn't count my steps accurately. But wearing it is better than being sedantary, so I'll start that again and try to figure out a way to make it more accurate. First, I need to establish a baseline. So I'm going to wear that danged pedometer for ONE WEEK - just to see where I'm starting from. I'll wear it every day and record the steps. Then I'll figure out where I am at currently, then set a step goal that is realistic for next week.

Sanity Savers: Remember how we were all talking about tea drinking last week? Well, it was so weird, because one lady in our WW meeting asked how she could stop the after dinner snacking and eating. She said she feels like at the end of a hard day, she DESERVES a snack. Food is the way she's always rewarded herself. I think that's true of me as well. Anyway, several people in the group suggested a cut of HOT TEA (preferably without caffeine for late night consumption). They were talking about how satisfying a cup of tea can be to soothe your nerves and make you feel like you have a reward, without stuffing down lots of calories. So this week, I've bought several teas. I got lucky and found the Stash teas on sale at Price Chopper. The teas I bought were: decaf Chai spice tea; ginger peach green tea; decaf raspberry and white tea; and decaf chocolate hazelnut tea. Last night, I tried the decaf Chocolate Hazelnut tea and it was really delicious!!! It's a really satisfying dessert tea. Imagine, dessert without the calories, I love it!

Another tea I tried months ago (at Norma's suggestion) which I really like is The Republic of Tea's "Pink Rose Green Tea." I absolutely LOVE that tea but had kind of forgotten about it until this tea discussion. I got it out yesterday and started sipping on it again. Delish.

Saw the movie, "Marie Antoinette" on DVD. What a lovely movie!! Kirsten Dunst is in it. I was very impressed. Decided to watch it after reading a lovely article in Belle Armoire about the jewelry artist and collector, Amy Hanna. She was talking about how the costume and lovely jewelry pieces in this movie had really inspired her artistically. That movie is fantastic. Bob and I both really enjoyed it. The movie didn't focus much on the grisley or violent aspects of the French Revolution or of Marie Antoinette's death. You can read about her real life here.

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