Oil Pulling and Bike Riding

This morning I had a dilemma. I've been trying to get my morning routine down and running smoothly for a while now, but I haven't quite hit the right order yet. I've been determined to single task more things and not be a crazy multi-tasker any more.

First, I've been Oil Pulling each morning (you can read more specifics about that on our j&kFITNESS blog). Basically, you use as pure of an oil as you can find, and you spend about 15-20 pulling, pushing and swishing it around in your mouth. I've been using organic, virgin coconut oil. I don't even like coconut, but this oil is very refreshing! So you're supposed to do it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and before all your morning oral hygiene routine. That kind of grosses me out, but I'm all about trying new stuff and if I get a benefit from it, I work it in (with the goal of new, positive habits replacing bad ones).

You can get a nice size jar of this at Whole Foods

Secondly, I wanted to wake myself up a bit first thing by riding the stationary bike in our home gym. It's not new, but we just got a new bicycle seat. It's a really nice Schwinn Airdyne upright bike, but the seat has always been awful. It was nice and big and looked like it should be comfortable, but it nearly killed me everytime I tried to ride it. This past weekend we took the seat and post to All About Bikes in Memphis. Literally it took about 5 minutes to find a new seat and solve the problem. If you have bike wants or needs, go see Victor and team, they can help you out.

My new bike seat! Yay! I can ride and still sit the rest of the day without pain!

So... what to do? Well, I did them at the same time. While in my PJs and running shoes. And blaring loud music. I'm pretty sure I completely defiled the mental healing properties of my oil pulling, but it was what I had to do this morning. Not to mention that spitting the oil in a cup at the 20 minute mark so I could keep riding 10 more minutes made me feel like my Dad spitting tobacco. Yuck.

Jimmy's manly-man jam box that is usually in his wood-working shop

While I have impressed myself that I can swish oil around in my mouth, ride my bike and listen to music at the same time, without accidentally swallowing, choking or singing my favorite song in an outburst, I probably won't do that again. I think I'll go back to oil pulling first!

Do you do any crazy multi-tasking things in the mornings to fit it all in? Tell me what works for you!

Top Priority: My Personal Health and Wellness

This is it. 

Have you ever felt off track, maybe not a full-blown detour, but like you keep struggling to get back in your groove? I have felt that way for months now, and as of today I am facing it head on, because it's driving me crazy.

The thing is, I can help other people all day long with multiple facets of wellness. But I always seem to push my own to the back burner. This means I tend to end up not meeting my own goals, even though I may be working daily to help other people meet theirs. Don't get me wrong - it's very rewarding. But if I don't take care of myself, I can't keep helping other people. This is how I know I'm off-track. It's a hard lesson to learn. I think we all do it to a degree. We think it's selfish to set aside time for ourselves to take care of even the most basic needs, let alone work toward a major milestone. Parents are particularly bad about this. But it's time we realize that we can't really be effective, and we certainly can't be the example we need to be for the next generation, if we don't take care of the bodies and spirits that we've been given. I want to be around for the people in my life that I love. But it's not enough to me to just exist or survive, I need to really live. And you do too. So I hope that whatever just hit me in the head this weekend pushes you to think about it too.

So from this point on, you're going to hear a lot more about my antics. My ups and downs, my adventures, the goals I hit and the ones I miss. When I do well and when I suck. There will be some people in my life that hear me say the word no every now and then (gasp!). I want to hear about you too. Is anyone else feeling the same way? If you are, tell me about it, and let's tackle this together.

I have some very specific goals that I want to meet this year. Surprisingly, they have precious little to do with scale weight and just marking things off a to-do list. I'm focusing on healthy habits, my performance, how I feel, what kind of impact I'm making on the world, things like that. As I work through these healthy habits, I'll share them here. I'd love for you to share your thoughts with me too. Tell me when you think I'm crazy and when you feel the same way. Let me know what you are doing to make your life DIFFERENT. Let's live and not just exist!!!!