Monday again

Here I am again, another Monday. I can't remember for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if my last post was on a Monday too, with a lot of whingeing and whining! Yet in some ways, I feel different. Perhaps that's not true, but some things have changed since last week, anyway. My colleague at work resigned very suddenly. It was a bit of a shock to all of us, and we have to quickly scramble to figure out how to get all the work done until we can find a replacement. Plus we had become good friends, so I'll miss her a lot.

So there are some changes at the moment. I've been assured that I shouldn't have to work extra hours, so that's OK. The main thing will be stress and worrying about getting more work done in the same amount of time, and not forgetting anything. Traditionally I've been pretty bad at managing stress. I'm the kind of person that wakes up in the middle of the night with a jolt thinking "Did I remember to check the fax??" Heck, I even worry about how much I'm going to worry!

I've had a feeling for a while now that I wanted things to change - wanted to change in myself. And right now I feel like it's more important than ever, for my own health - both physical and mental. Forget about losing x kgs before my holiday to Queensland, forget about being able to fit into pretty clothes, forget about people staring at my wobbling tummy as I walk down the street. I just want to be happy and calm and relatively stress-free.

Can you believe it, but lately I've had cravings for steamed broccoli, with just a bit of furikaki sprinkled on top. And I have urges to go for long walks around my neighbourhood, like I used to do before I got a full-time job.

Last night I read an inspirational blog post about a Japanese lady called Tsuneko Sasamoto. She's 97 and still works at her job as a photojournalist. She still has lots of energy, and she looks a lot younger than her age as well. When asked, she had 3 reasons for her longevity and health:

1. she eats very good quality food, and spends as much on food as others might on fashion or beauty products. At night, she only eats meat and vegetables, and no rice or bread with it. She drinks a glass of red wine every night.
2. she makes sure to think and be creative every day. She decorates her home in a modern style, she's interested in modern fashion and of course her job as a photographer allows her to be creative.
3. she's curious and takes an active interest in the world around her. She reads the newspaper every day, and keeps a notebook of things she wants to research more.

I would also add thinking positive to this list, after reading what she says about feeling lonely - she lives alone, so if she ever feels lonely while eating dinner, she looks at the moon through her window and sees the moon as her dinner companion. What a lovely way to view things!



I really love inspirational stories like this, about real people living real lives. To follow her advice doesn't cost hundreds of dollars or involve doing anything extraordinary. Just living a healthy, engaged lifestyle.

How can I make that happen?