In my last post I started to tell you about my day. My wife picks me up at the end of the day, which is at about 5pm, and when we get home I go through the mail and my wife starts to make dinner. The kids start to wonder in from their various activities depending on the day of the week. One of my kids is on a basketball team, and another takes ballet lessons. More than one of the kids has piano lessons, etc… In other words, I don’t keep track of their activities, that’s my wife’s department. While the kids set the table for dinner my wife and I go for a 15 minute walk. Our family therapist suggested it as a way to talk without distractions, and also to get a little exercise at the same time. I love my walks with my wife. I find them really relaxing and productive at the same time. It’s really a great way to stay in touch. When we get home the table is usually already set, and the food is ready. We sit down to eat as a family, which I also love, and we almost always have a great time talking about our days and our dreams.

So the holidays are behind us, and so is New Years with all those resolutions. Now the winter has set in and we are back to our usual routine. This is what my day is like: I get up early and do a 10 minute workout with my Bender Ball. Then I bring in the paper and have a cup of coffee. I bought a new coffee maker, which I’ll tell you about in another post, but it’s amazing. My wife gets about now and wakes up the kids. I help her get the kids breakfast, and she usually makes their lunches. The kids are out the door by 8 to catch their bus to school, and then my wife and I leave for work. We both bring our Bender Balls to work. I usually get in one 10 minute workout during my lunch break. I think my wife also works out during her lunch break, but sometimes, if she gets to work early enough, she does her Bender Ball workout before she sits down at her desk. My wife told me she prefers this because she feels energized from her workout, and really ready for her work day, which is mostly sitting at a desk. The rest of the day is spent working, and then we both leave at about 5pm.

I was having coffee with a few of my buddies the other day, and I couldn’t help but laugh.  There we were, at the beginning of the new year, talking about exercise and hopes for the new year.  They wondered why I was laughing.  I’ve known these guys for probably close to 30 years, and every single year we talk about the same things!  We always spend January talking about our New Year’s resolutions, about our new gym memberships, about our excitement about getting fit, etc.

And then what happens?  By February, we’ve forgotten all about our resolutions and we are meeting for a few beers and a slice of cake.  I laughed this year because I’ve finally broken from the pattern! Thanks to my bender ball, I’ve started losing my beer gut and feeling so much better about myself.  And that made me get a gym membership and the whole thing has made me feel 100% better.  And I told my buddies that I didn’t even put exercise as one of my New Year’s resolutions – because exercise, and using the bender ball, are simply part of my daily life now.  I don’t even think about them, and I know that they won’t be pushed aside, as my friends’ resolutions will be.

Poor guys.  Let’s hear it for my fitness and my bender ball!

Of course, we all make New Year’s resolutions.  Who doesn’t?  What amazed me this year was that my New Year’s resolution didn’t include getting fit!  For years and years I’ve always had “Lose 20 pounds” and “Work on My Stomach” at the top of my list.  Why aren’t they there this year?  Well, you’ve probably guessed already.  My Bender Ball has saved my New Year’s resolution list!

Now that I’m feeling great and getting in shape everyday, I simply don’t feel like I need to have that on my New Year’s resolution list anymore.  Now, I will admit that I’ve thought of placing it there anyway, since I know that I’ll be able to cross that one off!  But, that’s sort of cheating, isn’t it, to place something on your list knowing that you will be able to cross it off?

So, now that I had that spot available on my New Year’s resolution list, it was a bit difficult to decide how to fill it.  You know when you always know there is something that you need to do?  It’s weird, because of my bender ball, to know that I don’t need to achieve that thing anymore.

Not to worry, of course.  I found plenty of other things that need to be done this year!