Totally Be

I’m trying a low-buy year for many reasons, but today I’m going to talk about low-buy exercise because at its simplest it really doesn’t take much to get a body moving. A little background of the exercise throughout my life. I was always enrolled in some kind of group exercise as a kid and teenager – dance instruction, sports teams, kickboxing classes, and even gym memberships started as a teen because my mother has always been into fitness. I’ve had a gym membership for the last year solely to go to Zumba classes (so much fun for me!), but I’m starting a new job and the schedules clash. And since I’m trying a low-buy year anyway, I cancelled my membership. I won’t have an exercise structure to attend, but I still need to make sure I’m exercising regularly because I KNOW I feel so much better when I do. It’s time to revisit a system that I created during the pandemic when it was hard to get out and exercise as a group with instruction. I call it CHANCErcise. (I’ll admit that word sound...

  How complicated. I stopped some months ago and felt SO RELIEVED. But now I find myself doing it again. It feels different this time, but is it? That was from a journal entry some months ago. What a tiresome loop I kept finding myself in. But I think I’ve finally found my way out. I’m writing this article because I so often searched the internet for something like this and not many things came up. There are so many blog posts, articles, and videos on why you should or how to track your reading, but I just wanted to find some like-minded people who are sick of it. I wanted to quit and feel validated for doing so. I wanted fortitude to not go back to tracking my reading just because that’s what I see other readers doing online all the time. Now there is another group of people that have a space in all of this. That is the group of people who, when asked if/how they track their reading, cock their head and say, “Huh?”. Or else they proudly proclaim, “Never have; never will.” I envy t...

  A note on the deck I'm using: It is The Fountain Tarot by Jonathan Saiz, Jason Gruhl, and Andi Todaro. I first saw this deck in the video by Ariel Bissett that originally inspired me to do my own tarot book recommendation series . What a draw! All Coin Court cards. (I swear I shuffled.) Court cards have strong personalities and moods, patterns and states of being. Coin cards are related to the earth element and focus on practical matters like health, money, the senses, and physical experiences. Since these cards are so closely related, the books I've picked will have some recurring themes throughout as well. Queen of Coins - luxury, self-confidence, resourcefulness She is a self-confident, sensual woman surrounded by lush, natural beauty. She loves beauty but only if it plays a functional role in her life. She wants you to "Trust in your own abilities and embrace your unique way of being in this world." Lessons from Madame Chic by Jennifer L. Scott This book is al...

  Part 1 May 30, 2024 Why I Want To Quit 1. I spend a lot more time journaling that I do writing any other projects. If I spent the time on writing novels or a memoir or short stories or poetry that I do on my journal, I would be a lot more prolific. I would have a lot more to work with. Most of the words I have logged on this device are in my journal. Words that no one will see. Words that may not serve no purpose, but don't serve the purpose that I want to prioritize right now. 2. My "voice" is very one-dimensional. I always find myself going back to a first-person conversational style in any writing project. Now this can definitely work and is probably a strong suit of mine, but when I want to branch out, try something new, I often fall back into my own personal voice because journaling is something I do, am "working on", all the time so it's hard to cultivate a different vibe for another project. I have to be very conscious of it. 3. My writing ...

  I have often heard of people getting upset when a book series doesn’t match — like, the physicality of it. Hardcover/softcover, matching colors/designs, being the same size (that’s a big one)… but I don’t often hear people talk about what I’m here to complain about, which is when book titles in series seem so out of left field. I’m thinking of 2 collections in particular. They aren’t even series, but they are by the same author. So maybe I have nothing to complain about. But better titles were  right there  so I am going to go on about it. The first one I’ll bring up is the author that was on my radar longer: Mary Roach. She writes hilarious and interesting non-fiction science books on bizarre topics. Her first was on dead human bodies. Yep. Her list: Stiff  (cadavers) Spook  (ghosts) Bonk  (sex) Packing for Mars  (space) Gulp  (alimentary canal) Grunt  (military) Fuzz  (animals vs. law) You see the one that stands out there, righ...