Everyone loves cute photos of animals right? Well, thanks to quarantine, we’ve been spending a lot of extra time together! When I yoga, they chill with me. When I garden, they come watch. And Samantha is getting in shape thanks to longer and more frequent walks! We’re planning to paddle board Saturday in the neighborhood.

After not practicing yoga for over 4 years, I feel like I’m starting from scratch! One of the reasons I quit in the first place was because I kept pulling my hamstrings. It was a nightmare. I was paying so much money for Bikram and no longer enjoying it. I don’t know if it was something in my diet, or the fibromyalgia, but it felt like the more yoga I did, the more pain I was in!

What I’ve learned in just 10 days: Water makes a difference. Water may have been the problem back then. Maybe I should be drinking a gallon of water every day for the rest of my life? I’ve already noticed a difference and I’ve always known that water is important. I could make a million excuses as to why I haven’t committed to it in recent years. But I do know that when I started swimming regularly to lose weight in 2009, I sure drank a lot of water!

The covid-19 pandemic has given me a lot more time to spend on self care! I’ve been working from home and making time to do yoga in the morning. My roommate also moved out so I turned a bedroom into my exercise room. 👍🏻 Little by little I’ve been able to adjust my life to make more time for the 75 Hard objectives.

The biggest realization so far: I’m awful at managing my time. Fortunately, I have extra to play with right now.

Also, it’s really hard to drink a gallon of water. My stomach just doesn’t seem big enough sometimes! The easiest way for me to keep track of my water intake is to use a liter water bottle.

I still have to modify my workouts. Yoga is tricky with my wrists and knees. I already have a bruise on the right knee because I didn’t use enough padding. It’s so frustrating when you are only 33, but your body acts like it’s 83 sometimes! That’s what I’m trying to change. At least I’ve done enough yoga in my life to know how and when to modify poses. Bike rides work well for my body and walking is gentle enough. I never loved running, but I enjoyed breaking into a jog when I felt like it. At the moment, I don’t want to overdo it and then not be comfortable finishing my 75 days. Every day I stretch those hamstrings and recognize little improvements!

I’m looking forward to seeing how my health improves with all of this. While 75 days still seems a little extreme, I’m embracing my own fibromyalgia study. Diet has definitely helped over the years, but hasn’t fixed everything. Therefore, could drinking a gallon of water, exercising twice a day (once must be outside), and dieting (+no alcohol) result in drastic improvements? Please! After many years of pain, bring on the relief!