This is the second stop of my 11th month journey to create life-long habits for myself. The full write up on this is now hosted in the Archives.

I’ll be taking this year-long trek up to December 12th (12/12) and will stop and reflect on my progress each month until then. These will be known as monthly waypoints. A waypoint is a reference point that helps us know where we are and where we’re going. Whether we are walking, driving, or navigating a journey to better yourself, waypoints help us find our way.

So how am I doing so far?

Nutrition & Training
Horrible month of nutrition. I probably had a few home cooked meals but mostly have dined out. Disgusting. Prices have gone up, salt intake has gone up. Disappointing. Enough of this convenience, it is pathetic. I am still eating out more than I like because it is too convenient. Dropping the idea of paleo and keto diet and want to integrate more fruits and vegetables so Mediterranean diet.

Training? Could have been better. I have been desk-bound trying to wrap up our work contract the past few weeks. Now that this is over, I can focus on myself for awhile and I am going to do just that. More gym combined with spring time outdoor exercise and workouts at home with Apple Fitness+.

I threw out all of the tobacco pipe paraphernalia and tobacco. I was solid for two weeks until we found a stash of more and well, we couldn’t let it go to waste, right? After that, I purchased another pipe, more tobacco and here I am. I didn’t appreciate what addiction can do until then. Now I can sympathize with others. Total pounds lost this last month: Five. Pounds regained: 3.

Yoga & Meditation
My body is sore from yoga and even a few pilates exercises. Don’t let anyone think less of you for practicing these. You use muscles that you forgot you had in every session. I enjoy yoga and plan on deepening these sessions.

On meditation, I have realized it can be done anywhere at anytime there is even a free minute. This makes me happy and gives me zero excuses to not focus and relax. It can be pure joy to take a moment and just breathe. Now that I have some time to myself I can do more of this. I can relax, breathe and turn my brain off for a few moments throughout the day.

Photography & Writing

No change to either of these, again due to work stresses. So, I will simply cut/paste from the previous month as it still applies:

Other than ”snappy hour” every day before sunset, I have not photographed anything I wanted to. Again, the extreme weather is not helping. That will change, even if I have to do tech stuff laying around the office and call it ”still life.” Regarding my two decades worth of unorganized images: progress. I will get the archives organized this year. Only then can I advance in what I really want to do with them. I intend to make memories by developing physical prints, books, and even zines. I’ve also switched up my genres to focus on landscape and urban photography. A lot to learn here this year.

Writing? I’ve made a decision to do more blogging/journaling both analog and digital this past month. Blogging was hampered while consolidating my websites and moving them to my own server. Also, I’ve been reading, a lot. Two books in about seven days. Writers are readers so they say.

One Last Thing:
Now that spring time has arrived I plan on being outdoors more frequently and this makes me happy. More hiking, geocaching, photography, disc golf, and aero photos.

Time to get back on the trail because I have a long way to go. The next waypoint check in is on 5/5. Happy trails.