{"id":19062,"date":"2013-11-25T12:46:57","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T17:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=19062"},"modified":"2014-09-09T09:35:15","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T13:35:15","slug":"little-things-count-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2013\/11\/25\/little-things-count-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Things Count Too"},"content":{"rendered":"With the semester coming to an end, I find myself focused on reaching the big goals that I set for at the beginning of the school year. Just to recap<\/a>, my ambition for this blog is to build the habit of making physical activity a part of my lifestyle. My secondary goals are to become physically fit, more energetic, and fearless when it comes to exercising in public. When I look at these goals, they can be a bit broad and, at times, I lose track of where I am going. Yet, it shouldn\u2019t have to be all or nothing for me when it comes to exercising, because every moment of physical activity counts into my journey. Instead of focusing on the big picture, I\u2019ve realized that I should pick out each pixel to work on instead. Each day is an opportunity to make smaller goals that can help me work up to the bigger ones, and motivate me to stay on track.\r\n\r\nI\u2019ve decided to start off with a minimum of three goals to accomplish each day. After all, I don\u2019t want to bombard myself with too many tasks, I\u2019m still getting into to this new lifestyle and change doesn\u2019t happen overnight. Instead of getting overwhelmed with how much work I still have to do, I can change my perspective around and focus on what I have accomplished each day, and see how close<\/i> I am to realizing my aspirations. Following through with these goals each day will also help me appreciate that even the littlest things that I do in terms of physical activity can contribute to becoming a healthier me.\r\n\r\n1) Work On My Posture<\/span><\/strong>\r\nEver since I was sixteen, I\u2019ve had the nasty habit of slouching whenever I am sitting down or standing up. And lately, this slouching has been causing a ton of back pain, especially when I\u2019m hunched over my desk studying. The pain distracts me from my studies. Since having bad posture tends to lag me behind on my exercising, such as making it painful to do crunches, I\u2019ve decided to tackle this problem head on.\r\n\r\n
\"\"
Enough with the bad posture! - VIA GIFSOUP.COM<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nEven though through Pilates (thanks to the plank), I\u2019ve managed to strengthen up my core a bit, I still forget to relax my chest and roll my shoulders back. I know that it\u2019s impossible to have perfect posture 24\/7, so I aiming to work on straightening my back for at least a half an hour each day. Then, I will build up to an hour or two, until having a straight posture becomes second nature to me. Correcting my posture can be a pain, even though it sounds simple, but it\u2019s worth it. I get the confidence by shifting my appearance and standing tall, and running around campus becomes less of a task since I won\u2019t have to work on keeping up with my slouching.\r\n\r\n2) Start\/End The Day By Stretching<\/span><\/b>\r\nLike so many students, I\u2019m often in a rush to get to class in the morning so I jump out of bed and forget to warm up my body as a way to prepare for the day. And sometimes, after many hours of working, I collapse onto my bed, forgetting to loosen up my muscles and relax before passing out for the night. Either way, I start and end the day sore. Whenever I take the time to condition and stretch my body, I\u2019m more energetic, focused, and, obviously flexible.\r\n\r\n
\"\"
Even cats do the downward dog. -VIA AMEOWZINGOBSESSION.TUMBLR.COM<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nSince mornings can be hasty, I plan to do one full-body stretch, standing up on the balls of my feet, lifting my arms above my head, trying to reach for the ceiling. I will also add touching my toes and twisting my body from left to right. At night, I\u2019ll devote more time stretching, and do yoga postures like downward dog (standing on all fours), child\u2019s pose (lying face down, legs bents, and pressing my thighs to my chest while stretching my arms over my body), and tree pose (standing on one leg, while the other is bent with the foot inwards to the opposite leg and knee outwards). The best part about yoga is that it also frees me from whatever state of mind I am in. Was today a rough day? Am I excited about something that\u2019s going to happen tomorrow that I can\u2019t sleep? By stretching, all of that is forgotten, and I\u2019m able to focus on the present. There\u2019s no better way to go to sleep than on a positive note.\r\n\r\n3) Do At Least One Physical Activity<\/span><\/b>\r\nBe it taking a walk<\/a>, going to Pilates class, going to the gym, or dancing like crazy<\/a> to a favourite song, it doesn\u2019t matter what I do, as long as I manage to fit in some sort of activity into my day. I\u2019ve come to the realization that being physically active doesn\u2019t have to only be about running on the treadmill for 90 minutes, and if there\u2019s no time for that, then nothing else will do. Instead, it\u2019s about the minor changes I make in the way I live, such as taking time to stand up and move around after a long study session. Life can be busy, so why not get creative and fit in a workout in between the most crowded moments?\r\n\r\n
\"\"
I mean, running away also counts as exercise, right? \u2013 VIA GIF-CENTRAL.BLOGSPOT.CA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nWhat are your daily active goals that you plan to achieve?\r\n\r\n-Amanda","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\n
\nWith the semester coming to an end, I find myself focused on reaching the big goals that I set for at the beginning of the school year. Just to recap, my ambition for this blog is to build the habit…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “Little Things Count Too”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “Little Things Count Too”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1758,7204,62,1,58],"tags":[78,259,1733,88,9307,138,261,286,262,85,1984,1983],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19062"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19062"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19065,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19062\/revisions\/19065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}