The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

That the universe does not revolve around you. I forget this too often and get swept up in my personal dramas. It’s hard to conceive of this entire universe around us that exists regardless if we are having a bad day, if we are dead or alive, or if we look good in a pair of pants. We are part of the universe, sure, but we are such an infinitesimally small part of it that our existence matters little in the grand scheme of things. It’s good to be reminded of how insignificant we are sometimes because it makes our troubles seem less intense.

March is coming to an end. I have regressed a bit in my New Year’s resolutions. At the end of February I was working on about every single one of them and at the end of March, I have just started getting back into the routine of things after a vacation and disruption of my habits (which were really newly formed so it’s been hard to re-establish them all over again and a bit like starting over from scratch). In this last week of March I have finally gotten back into daily exercise and I am doing more things to relax at night. I have been better about saving money these past few weeks by not getting takeout and I have not bought anything on Amazon (I did buy some spendy new jogging shoes because the cushioning on the old ones is shot and you really need high quality jogging shoes at my age to protect the joints).

Creativity-wise I have maintained my daily writing practice in March, even when I was travelling. My drawing practice has been put on hold for the time being. So my resolutions as far as working on my book have been fulfilled. I’m making good progress on that front.

Fitness-wise I am still on track to run the half marathon in April despite being set back in early March. I’ve managed to get back to running the second half of March and am currently up to 8 miles on my long run. Two more weeks and I will be ready for the race. Strength training I have only resumed this week. It’s been hard because I really don’t like doing it. I force myself because it’s good for bone and muscular health in women nearing menopause.

Food-wise I am doing better than I was the first half of March. Still eating a bit too much, but managing to eat better quality foods and I have lost a bit of weight. The first half of the month I did have a lot of sweets, especially when I was on vacation, but since I’ve been back I’ve only had them twice. I’m really trying to cut back to zero sweets again. Ultra-processed food has snuck into my diet more than I would like, especially on vacation, but I’ve been better about it since I’ve been back. Again, I would ideally like to cut back to zero ultra-processed food.

In April I would like to get back to the point I was at in late February where I was working on all my resolutions and establishing them as habits. It’s understandable that there will be set backs now and then, like there was in March, but I am still a lot closer to most of my goals than I was when I started in January.