Every time that we are heading to a new location on our journey, I make promises to myself about how I will be, or what I will do differently than I did in the last place. This is one of the incredible parts of traveling long-term, each new place you go to, you have the chance to learn from the last place. I have to admit that I have been awful at keeping these goals and promises to myself. So, I decided to write what I plan to change about myself and my routines in our next destination (THAILAND!!!!). This will help keep me honest and also make me strive harder to actually follow through on what I want to do. Nothing like public shame and humiliation to make one strive to complete tasks and goals. So here they are:
1) I will choose to be positive, no matter what happens when experiencing new things. I have a tendency to lean towards the negative in most many aspects of my life. I like to call it being realistic, but most often I am just being a downer. I loathe the fact that there have been a couple of times during this trip where my negativity (usually rearing its ugly head as frustration and annoyance) has ruined an experience for all of us. It hasn’t happened often, but I want these experiences to be happy memories, not memories of me losing my cool and getting cranky. I am going to throw my expectations and frustrations to the wind and have FUN!
2) I will find a bible study to join, and/or make sure to do one on my own, EVERY DAY! I am a much more grounded, loving, kind, and patient person when I devote the first part of my day to studying God’s Word and praying. I realize that not all of you are Christian, but this one is more important than my morning cup of tea. I will not be able to accomplish goal #1, unless I make sure to give my day, and myself, over to God. Do any of you know of a good study that I can find online (physical books are just too hard to carry around at this point)?
3) I will start some type of physical activity/exercise and make it a habit! I have never been an example of physical fitness. I am not one of those ladies that has had defined muscles, or was able to jog or play sports. My exercise of choice has always been walking in the city on nice sidewalks, I want to do more. I am not overweight, but my endurance is acutely lacking. I want to be able to run (only if I need to, let’s not get carried away now) and play with my daughter for the rest of my life. I also genuinely want Zoë to be raised to be physically fit. I think Thailand will be the best place to start getting my butt in gear. Now I just have to decide what I want to start with. Swimming lessons? Zumba classes? Or just getting up and jogging around town? You guys could help me out with this one, what’s the best way to get started?
I am counting on all of you, my friends, to not let me make excuses for myself. If I write a post someday in the future about how I wasn’t able to keep these promises to myself, call me on it and leave me a comment! Or, if you just want to encourage and support, those comments would help me a great deal. Thanks for keeping me on my path to being a better person and following us on our adventure!
And Three To Go 
Those sound like great promises. Keep us posted on how you go. I must say I’m not great at keeping those kinds of promises myself, although I have at last made peace with number 1. by altering it slightly – instead of promising to “be positive” I have decided to embrace the positive aspects of being negative, if you see what I mean.
So for example, I’ve decided it’s not actually bad to get annoyed or frustrated or afraid – the trick is to use these to fuel a constructive response; to be more prepared, to learn some greater lesson, to feel some humility, etc etc. That seems to work better for me than promising not to get that way in the first place.
I like that! I think that is more what I meant actually. I know that I will have negative thoughts still, but I want my reactions to my negative thoughts to be more positive. I don’t want to let my negativity make me sour but instead more determined to have fun or be prepared, etc. 🙂
I really like your attitude on not wanting to be a downer. B told me about this post of yours because the two of us were also discussing what it means for each of us “being positive”.
We moved back to Thailand after we lived in Spain so it is interesting to read that the three of you are heading this way. How long will you be staying for?
xoxo, Eszter
http://kukolina.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/i-became-the-new-face-of-estee-lauder/
Hello Eszter!
We will be in staying at least 2-3 months. We are staying first in Bangkok for a bit, then to Hua Hin. We are going to see if we like it enough to stay there for the remaining time. If Hua hin doesn’t fit us then we are considering Phuket.
Have you been to Hua Hin before?
No, I haven’t been to Hua Hin. I hope you will post on it… 😉
I surely will! I see that you are in Samui, that is my favorite island and I have been there a couple times. That was actually one of our possible destinations. If we end up going there I may have to bend your ear about where to stay and what to do with a little one. I don’t know if the things we used to do would work with a 2 year old. 🙂
what about swimming? I too love to walk, and swimming is my next fav!
I would love to exercise by swimming, and what better place than Thailand to do so! I would need to get in some lessons. I can tread water and dog paddle, but lap swimmers tend to get annoyed with my slow but steady pace 🙂
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