by Heather Plett | Jul 26, 2010 | Beauty, body, journey
See this overweight, big-butted, 44 year old woman? She has become a RUNNER!
It’s true. It’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks. A couple of months ago, I bought a fancy new pair of shoes (that fit my orthotic insoles), checked out this Learn to Run program (thanks to Jamie for the link), and started running. And… surprise, surprise… I love it!
I mostly just run on the weekends (during the week I ride my beloved bike to work – for a total of 22 km/day) and when on vacation (I can tell you a great running path in Maple Grove, Minnesota), so I’m taking my own meandering journey through the learn to run progam. As of this weekend, though, I’m able to run for 4 minutes, walk for 1 and then repeat it four times for a total of 20 minutes of running time. Woot!
As you probably know if you’ve been following this blog for awhile, I had breast reduction surgery back in March. One of the reasons I’ve never run before is that… well… how do I say this? Flopping sucks. As does the sore back from carrying that excess weight. And… have you ever tried to find a sports bra in a double H? Nope, you won’t find one of those on the racks at Target. It seems bra manufacturers rightfully assume that few people with boobs that big will have “sports” in their vocabulary.
With everything else that’s been going on in my life since then, I haven’t talked much about my post-surgery thoughts. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel when I finally made the agonizing decision to go through with it. Would it feel like I’d betrayed my body? Would I feel like a bit of a fraud, especially since I’m not really fond of the plastic surgery trend in North America these days?
Well, let me tell you, there have been NO REGRETS! I feel great! My body is far from perfect, but it finally feels like it is in balance!
I’ve had several people tell me that my posture has improved, and I know that it’s true. My back feels stronger and less weighed down. The bra strap indents in my shoulders are disappearing. Plus there’s the psychological side – I think I was probably hunching my shoulders partly because I felt some self-conscious need to draw less attention to my breasts.
And then there’s the running. I’ve had a bit of a yearning to try running for quite awhile. Being a wanderer at heart, I’m always happiest when my chosen form of exercise includes the opportunity to see things and meander through the neighbourhood. Cycling’s good, but the truth is, I can be a pretty lazy cyclist when I want to be. I wanted to push myself a little harder, sweat a little more, so it was time to try running.
Well, who knew that I’d enjoy it so much? This weekend I even found myself thinking “I need to figure out what equipment/clothing I need to get in order to do this in the winter.” (Time will tell if the love affair lasts through the brutal winters we get.)
I haven’t lost any significant amount of weight since I started running, but the beautiful thing is, I don’t care! Really, I don’t! I’m learning to love this big ol’ body in new ways, I’m finding clothes that fit my new curves, and I feel healthy and strong.
When I dragged my daughter outside yesterday morning to take a post-running photo, it was with the thought that I would post it in a “look at me, not ashamed of showing myself at my worst – in all my red-faced sweaty glory” attitude. (The pictures really don’t do it justice – my face turns BEET red when I exert myself. And MAN do I sweat!)
But then I looked at the close-up and thought “Wow! I look so alive!”
by Heather Plett | Jul 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
The internet is like a candy shop for me. There are SO many interesting people to meet and ideas to explore. When it comes to the places I visit most regularly, though, it’s almost always about the people. I’m drawn to new sites/blogs if I feel drawn to the people behind them.
Here are a few of the people who’ve caught my fancy recently:
1. My sister Cynthia, a talented photographer who inspires me with her capacity for artistic captures, has started a new project she’s calling 100 Conversations. She’s approaching 100 strangers and asking their permission to photograph them. In the process, she’s having delightful conversations with them that alternately make me giggle and bring tears to my eyes. I only found out about her little secret last night (even though I was at the Folk Fest with her where she took a good portion of the photos she’s taken so far – she’s sneaky that way), and couldn’t stop until I’d seen every picture and read every word. It’s beautiful.
- Me & Katharine
2. Standing in the lunch line on one of the first days at ALIA, I started chatting with Katherine Weinmann and within minutes we knew that we were kindred spirits. After that first meeting, we bonded over meals, in the hallways, along the wooded paths, and on the dance floor. When we left for home, she gave me a wonderful, heartfelt gift – a children’s crown, accompanied by her beautiful words “I see the queen in you”. She’s on a sabbatical right now and has started a new blog to talk about the personal journey she’s on.
3. Speaking of kindred spirits, I haven’t met Julie Daley (yet), but I’m pretty sure we’ll bond pretty quickly if/when we do meet. I first connected with her on Twitter and since then her blog has become one of my favourite places for wise, soulful writing about what it means to be wholly, beautifully female. Her words make me feel like I have come home.
4. I met so many inspirational people at ALIA, I couldn’t begin to list them all. But one that’s definitely worth mentioning is Thomas Arthur, a contemplative juggler/photographer with the heart of a poet/mystic (or perhaps it’s the other way around). His evening performance (a combination of juggling, speaking, and film) was one of the most moving things I’ve seen in a long time. And one of my favourite fun moments at ALIA was the evening on the dance floor when he taught us how to group juggle. He’s got an intriguing new project on the go, called earthanima – a beautiful, whimsical look at the way the earth speaks to us.
5. Mihirini De Zoysa is one of those people you almost can’t resist looking at, partly because of her stunningly beautiful eyes and smile, but mostly because she has such an open compassionate face you just know that you will feel safe in her presence. She’s another one of the people I bonded with at ALIA, though we didn’t get to spend as much time together as I would have liked. She lives in Sri Lanka and she has recently started a new project there called “I Can” in which she and others are inspiring kids in schools to be change-makers in their communities. She wrote about it here. Some day I’d like to visit her in Sri Lanka and hear more of the hopeful stories coming out of this inspiring project.
- Kathy (on the right)
6. Last but not least in my “people who inspired me at ALIA” list is Kathy Jourdain. She was one of my companions in the Leader as Shambhala Warrior workshop, and together we worked through some pretty big stuff – like fear and resistance – especially when we found out we each had to write a blues song. I would have loved to have had more opportunity to hear Kathy’s fascinating life story – she found out she was adopted at the age of 46 (she found out through Facebook! There’s a new take on how social media impacts our lives!), and has worked through divorce and some other fairly significant obstacles – but since our time for story-sharing was limited, I’m now catching up on some of her stories on her blog.
Who’s inspiring you these days?
by Heather Plett | Jul 21, 2010 | Uncategorized
me, curious about what it's like to receive a Hindu blessing
In my humble opinion, curiousity didn’t kill the cat. Nope… I think it gave him a few of those nine lives! I think it completely rejuvenated that poor dying cat and gave him a reason to live!
I don’t remember who said it, but somebody at ALIA last month gave voice to one of my deepest beliefs. “Curiousity is one of your best assets.” Amen!
Maddie, my eight year old daughter, is one of my greatest teachers when it comes to curiousity. One of her favourite ways to start a sentence is “Can you imagine if…” That phrase is always followed by some outlandish thing she’s been imagining – like “Can you imagine if you had to eat nothing but grass for a year?” or “Can you imagine if you grew an extra head and both of your mouths always wanted to speak at the same time?”
She also likes to play “Would you rather…?” As in “Would you rather walk through a dark forest full of bears, or swim through an ocean full of sharks?” (Honestly – I can’t come up with ones that are quite as imaginative as hers.)
Where would we be in this world if nobody had entertained their curiousity about “What would happen if I stuck this hunk of meat in the fire instead of eating it raw?” Or “I wonder whether it might be possible to talk to someone far away from me if I used the right wires and sound pieces?” Or “If this piece of wood can float, maybe I could build something from wood that would be big enough to hold people and we could float across the river in it.” Or “What if I started writing a journal on the internet and shared it with whomever wanted to visit?”
I’m curious about a lot of things. Sometimes that curiousity is insatiable. It’s even got this tendency to take over my life on occasion. Sometimes I can barely sleep until I follow my curiousity to wherever it leads.
I want to know how people live in India or Africa, and so I travel there. While I’m there, I find myself dying to know about the stories people carry with them, and so I ask. I want to know how it feels to float down from the sky, and so I go skydiving. I want to know what it’s like to paint a picture, and so I take art classes. I want to know SO many things!
I’m planning to follow my curiousity until the day I find out the answer to “I wonder what it feels like to breathe my last breath.”
Summer seems like the perfect time to follow your curiousity. You’ve heard of “artist’s dates” (made popular by Julia Cameron). Well, today let me suggest an alternative (or companion – you decide). Take yourself on a “curiousity date”.
What are you curious about today? The art work you spotted on a random wall in a back alley you cycled down? The way it feels to sit in a bubbling stream with the water flowing over your shoulders? How long you can sit in meditative silence in the middle of a busy sidewalk? What it would feel like to leave random love notes taped to the bus stop window? How many people would hug you if you held up a “Free Hugs” sign in the subway station?
Tell me what you’re curious about in the comments and then… GO! Find out! Step away from your keyboard, grab your bus pass, your car keys, or (my personal preference) your bicycle, your camera, your journal, your “Free Hugs” sign – whatever you need – and follow your curiousity!
And then tell us about it, in case we’re curious about the same things.
As for me, I think I might just let an eight year old (or her older sisters, who still have wonderful moments of curiousity tucked in between the longer moments of acting like cool teenagers) direct me to whatever SHE’S curious about.
me, grinning like the proverbial cat upon receipt of that blessing
by Heather Plett | Jul 20, 2010 | beginnings, Creativity, journey
vacation feet at dusk
After a week and a half of vacation, I’m trying to give my brain the “get back to work” pep talk today. So far, I’ve had only limited success. Sigh.
I quite intentionally spent little time online while on vacation. It was family time, and so I did fun family things, like hangin’ out at the Folk Festival, going on a road trip, chillin’ by the hotel pool, shopping in big America shopping malls (mostly for the teenagers in the family), watching soccer games, riding a few rollercoasters, floating down a lazy river on an inner tube, eating too much junk food, and watching silly movies. I also managed to squeeze in a few fun things just for me, like sipping chai latte at a couple of bookstore coffee shops (on both sides of the border – yup, books & chai – my two addictions), reading a couple of books, and going to an art fair.
Yesterday was one of my favourite days of the vacation. I spent most of the afternoon reading a book in a lawnchair in a shady spot on my front lawn. About the only activity I did all day was get up now and then to refill my glass with iced tea. And make a ridiculously unhealthy lunch of hashbrowns and bacon. Awww… the luxury!
One of the books I finished reading while on vacation was Artful Leadership by Michael Jones. Yes, I actually read a book on leadership while on VACATION! Go figure. It was just that good! I had the pleasure of hanging out with Michael at ALIA last month and I find his thoughts and ideas to be really, really inspiring. His book hit the spot for me in so many ways at just the right time.
There are lots of thoughts bubbling in my mind after reading this book. One of the things that stuck with me was Michael’s suggestion that, given the amount of clutter and external influence we allow into our brains and hearts, it is extremely difficult to have an original thought that does not become shadowed and distorted by what others say and think. It is even more difficult to trust that original thought and give it life.
Think about it… how often have you had a thought or idea that came to you from whatever original source you believe in (God, muse, self) that you entertained for even just a few moments without quickly negating it because “so and so would think it’s a bad idea” or “it doesn’t fit with conventional wisdom” or “it’s just silly” or “market research would certainly tell me it would never fly”?
I’ve had some of those ideas lately, and there’s a part of me that JUST KNOWS they are the right ideas to follow. BUT… well, you know the “buts”. Every day a few more of them pile on top of me when I let myself be influenced by the “experts” or “well-meaning people” or “my own ego”.
That’s part of the reason I spent this vacation mostly away from some of the influencers – social media, etc. Sometimes it’s best just to sit with an idea and let it evolve in its own good time before we hold it up to any litmus tests other than our own gut feelings. To be honest, I let myself be influenced more by a chance encounter with a horse (more on that later), and an exhilarating ride on a rollercoaster than any other person’s ideas or suggestions.
What about you? How do you guard and nurture those original thoughts so that they have a chance to grow before resistance cuts them off at their tender little shoots?
by Heather Plett | Jul 12, 2010 | Uncategorized
I’m just popping in to say hello. Just enough time for a little game of peek-a-boo. 🙂
I have so much to tell you… SO MUCH! But that will have to wait for a week or two, since I am currently on vacation with my family and will not be spending much time on a computer.
I just had to stop by for a few minutes though, because I’m showing up in lots of fun places online and I wanted you to know about them.
1. I am very happy and excited that I had a chance to be interviewed by the amazing, creative, and warm-hearted Jamie Ridler! Though the interview took place a few weeks ago, I’m today’s guest on her Creative Living podcast. I have long been a fan of Jamie’s, so I’m tickled pink to be her guest. Listen to the podcast, and you’ll hear a little secret about something I’ll be working on this summer – for a Fall launch!
2. Another one of my favourite people online is Christine, a.k.a. Blisschick. Christine recently honoured me with the WarriorChick award! Christine has been a source of strength for me in some really tough times, so when she honours the strength in me with this award, I can’t help but feel humbled by it.
3. And last but not least, I’m also rather fond of Jane Steen, a fellow writer who I had the pleasure of hanging out with in Chicago back in the Spring. We had a wonderful visit to the Art Institute, followed by a photo op at the giant Bean and then a glass of wine. Jane honoured me with a “Versatile Blogger” award this week, and once again, I’m honoured! Blushing, in fact.
Once I’m back to more regular blogging, I’ll try to pass on these awards, but this little game of peek-a-boo is over for now and I have to go back to hanging out with my family now. I hope you’re all enjoying the summer!
p.s. The delightful model for the above photos is my nephew Jack. We had lots of fun together at this year’s Folk Festival, playing with one of my Indian scarves. Just for fun, here are a few more photos from the Folk Festival.
