October Check-In: Where Have You Been?

Each month I’m going to do a check-in, as a way to chart my progress and assess where I’m at, physically, emotionally, and mentally.

I’m back! (and not necessarily better than ever). Long time readers (/s) of this blog will know that I’ve been dealing with an array of personal obligations/tragedies/hardships that plagued my summer and only intensified over the past handful of weeks. Any time not spent working has been dedicated to taking care or working towards making any one of these situations better. Without going into all the bummer-y details, I’ve spent hours in vet hospitals, on the phone trying to mediate terrible situations, researching New York State’s mental health system and many more soul-crushing tasks.

Thankfully not everything in my life is bleak. Our cat, AnaCapri’s (a.k.a. Ana Bananas) last chemo visit yielded some positive news. Her oncologist informed us that it looks like her cancer is in remission. Ana will still need chemo sessions every three weeks for at least a year, but we’re cautiously optimistic.

I’ve also had some professional highlights. The organization I work for recently held an event at Madison Square Garden Theater and hosted over five thousand students from around the NY TriState area, celebrating their passion, compassion and dedication to making the world a better place. Plus the Canadian Prime Minister and his wife were there!

At this point, I’d typically do my check-in criteria update. Well, with everything that’s been going on, I haven’t been able to get any exact numbers so… here we go…

Check-in criteria.

Weight – Not the best indicator for progress, but one marker. How’d I do?

1. July Check-In Weight – 224.6 lbs
2. July Check-In – 217.4 lbs
3. August Check-In – 217 lbs
4. September Check-In – Who knows!?
5. October Check-In – Not Great!
   • Difference = ???
   • Total Difference = Your guess is as good as mine

Athletic Assessment – I haven’t had much time to do anything. We recently purchased Beachbody On Demand (sorry Freeletics, my feet hurt). I’ve done a total of 3 workouts so far. So yeah, things haven’t been going great.  

1. First Athletic Assessment:
   1. 33 push-ups in 100 seconds
   2. 90 squats in 300 seconds
   3. 35 sit-ups in 300 seconds
2. October Athletic Assessment:
   1. I got winded walking up the stairs to the subway platform
   2. I ate two slices of pizza, a vegan burger, and half of a waffle full of ice cream yesterday
   3. My head, face and neck are so sunburned it hurts to blink

How you looking – To track any body changes, I’ll be taking a picture in the same outfit at the beginning of every month.

June 1 – First Picture:

October Check-In Picture:

How you feeling – Finally, how I’m feeling? Where is my head at? Am I feeling motivated or down? Has it been a tough month or has being healthy been easy?

October Check-In:

I’m so done with everything at this point it’s hard to even type. There is so much more that’s in front of me. All of those troubles that loomed so large these past months aren’t going away anytime soon. There is still so much that needs to be done. So many hours still to spend on the phone, in cars, going to appointments, doing research, mediating, trying to help solve other people’s problems.