This holiday season I wish the best for you all.
“May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility.” –
~Mary Anne Radmacher
Photo by Preslie Hirsch on Unsplash
Get ready for Thanksgiving dinner with this full-body workout!
Equipment Needed
- kettlebell or dumbbell
The Workout
For today’s workout, you will do the moves like the song of 12 Days of Christmas. You will start with 1. Then do two then one. Then three then two then one. Work all the way up to 12 and down to 1. For example, 1 sumo deadlift high pull. Then two cossack squats and one high pull. Then three push-ups, two cossack squats and one high pull.
Movements:
- 1 sumo deadlift high pull with kettlebell
- 2 cossack squats with kettlebell
- 3 push-ups
- 4 step-ups or box jumps
- 5 squats with weight
- 6 shoulder presses with kettlebell
- 7 kettlebell swings
- 8 bicep curls (4 each arm)
- 9 abs of your choice
- 10 walking lunges with kettlebell
- 11 dips
- 12 burpees
How to Do the Moves
For the video of movements click here. Remember there are always modifications. Let me know if you need help or suggestions. Don’t forget the warm-up. Make this workout work for you!
Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash
We need to always do our best. Whatever our task is give it your best effort. Why go through tasks halfway? Put your best effort into everything you do. When you know what to expect than you can always do 1% better every day.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better”
— Maya Angelou
Let’s stop worrying about what other people think of us and be ourselves. Let’s be 1% better every day only compared to ourselves of yesterday. Only compare yourself to who you used to be.
“The minute you start caring about what other people think, is the minute you stop being yourself”
— Meryl Streep
I believe this quote says it all. We can’t regret the things we did in the past because it doesn’t change it. We can’t worry about what will happen in the future because we don’t know yet. So instead of doing either let’s be present in the moment and be grateful for what we have and what we are doing.
No amount of regret changes the past.
No amount of anxiety changes the future.
But any amount of gratitude changes the present.
~Unknown
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
The best thing about being human is we are all unique. Don’t change for anyone else. Be who you are.
Don’t make yourself small for anyone. Be the awkward, funny, intelligent, beautiful little weirdo that you are. Don’t hold back. Weird it out!
Photo by Amanda Jones on Unsplash
Airport pickups are the best! Seeing your friends or family right outside that door after a flight is absolutely amazing! Sometimes you have been traveling for hours and had a long flight. Sometimes it’s a short and sweet flight. Sometimes flights have been delayed and you have been up all night. But when someone is right outside that door with a big smile and a bigger hug, all the worries seem to disappear.
Airport pickups are such a show of love. Doesn’t matter if it is romantic or platonic. Anyone who picks you up from the airport that you are aren’t paying to do so, actually loves you.
Photo by Collab Media on Unsplash
Too often we let yesterday’s regrets interfere with today’s beauty. Let go of the past and concentrate on the beauty in front of us.
“Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.”
—Will Rogers
Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unsplash
There are many pressures from our friends, family, and society that make us want to live up to someone else’s standards. But let’s take a look inside and figure out who we are first. Then stay true to yourself in all situations and circumstances.
“No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.”
―Virginia Woolf
Photo by Timur Romanov on Unsplash
I saw this article about the secret to life through an email subscription I get for free called “1440” which is a daily newsletter. It is a great email with the day’s news with unbiased reporting which is rare to get these days. It takes five minutes to read and there are links if you’d like to continue reading further into some articles. Please check it out.
I didn’t know why it was called 1440 but after reading their introduction I found out they named it that because the printing press was invented around the year 1440, spreading knowledge to the masses and changing the course of history. Also, in every day, there are 1,440 minutes. Now we know.
Here is a snippet from the article. “Maria Branyas Morera, the world’s oldest known person, died at the age of 117 on August 19, 2024. Born on March 4, 1907, in San Francisco, she moved to Catalonia, Spain, at age 8. Morera witnessed major historical events, including two world wars and the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, and she became the oldest known survivor of COVID-19 at age 113. She was active on social media as “Super Àvia Catalana” (or Super Catalan Grandma), amassing nearly 19,000 followers.
There are approximately 722,000 centenarians—those aged 100 and older—globally, with 108,000 in the US. Supercentenarians—those aged 110 and older—are rare, with about 250-300 worldwide and roughly 60-70 known in the US. Morera credited her longevity to enjoying nature, good company, avoiding toxic people, luck, and genetics.
Some studies suggest the maximum human lifespan could be between 120 and 150 years. The oldest verified person to have ever lived died in 1997 at 122. The current oldest living person is now 116-year-old Tomiko Itooka from Japan.”
What an amazing life! To have lived through all of that is a beautiful accomplishment. Congratulations to Maria and her family!
Gram would have been 100 years old today! Unbelievable that we had someone in our family who was three and a half years away from making it to be a centenarian. I wish she would have been able to see the day. And I wish she would have told me her secret to life although after spending my entire life and five years living with her I have a pretty good guess at what her secret might have been.
Unlike many of us who are getting old, Gram seemed to be ageless. I feel like she looked the same at age 95 as she did when she was 62. Same white hair, same cute smile, same personality. She was ALWAYS smiling. She loved sitting outside with the sunshine on her face. She loved sitting in her recliner and looking out the window at the snow. She seemed to appreciate whatever it was that was thrown at her.
I remember Gram always dressing nice and doing her hair and putting rouge on her cheeks. She cared about what she looked like. But I don’t think she cared what other people thought of her if they had bad thoughts. She said what was on her mind (sometimes a little too loud!).
I do have to admit the last six months of her life we could see a decline. She was getting thinner and more frail. She was sleeping 16 hours a day. She was grumpier and the dementia seemed to have more of an impact on her. But all the same, she was my Gram and I loved her.
I love the advice Maria gives to us in the article. We need to enjoy nature and good company, avoid toxic people, have some luck, and hope for good genetics. I believe this is why Gram lived as long as he did. I believe Gram’s secret to life was her personality. She loved sitting outside, she didn’t put up with toxic people in her life, and she was happy and appreciative. She didn’t take much for granted. She was generous and concerned about the well-being of others. I admire her strength and her heart. She was my biggest inspiration. I mean who else would sit on a plant cart 🙂
Happy 100 years in Heaven, Gram! I hope you made a vanilla cream pie with a graham cracker crust (my favorite) and your delicious spaghetti and meatballs. Enjoy a beautiful family dinner with all of those up there filled with love, laughter, and memories. Until we meet again…