Progress Report

One of the new exercises that I do on Lumosity is about paying attention to details. Basically they have you click on an item and then switch screens, asking you to click on a different item. The screen switching and new items continue until you screw up and hit the same one twice. This gets a bit more complicated because you have to do three rounds of it, meaning not only do you have to remember what items you have clicked on and not clicked on for THIS round, but also for the other rounds as well. I did okayish this first time.

However, even though I didn't do that great on the game, I really liked it. I don't think this is something I've seen  before on the site and it's a new way to look at how to pay attention to details and keep track of things. I know as I grow older, it will be these kinds of mental skills that will begin to fade first. I worry about that (a lot, really) and want to do everything I can to prevent it.

One of the side benefits I've noticed about exercise, mental or physical, is that it allows me to just tune out the world around me for a while. It's nice when my thoughts can just be all about the task at hand, and not distracted by the constant bullshit stress of life. Sometimes the best thing about a walk is the fact that it allows me to clear my head for a bit.

I've always read about this vicious cycle that fat people can get into. They gain weight. They get depressed. The depression makes them not want to move or try to eat healthy......and so they gain more weight and get more depressed. Every time I would read something about this, I would feel more discouraged about the whole thing. It just seemed like there was no way out.

The opposite is true as well though. I'm in this place where sometimes I eat healthy and sometimes I don't. When I don't, I certainly notice my body doesn't feel as well as it does when I do. I've also noticed that on many levels, I feel better after doing exercise.  It improves my level of physical comfort and my mental state. Now, sometimes it exhausts me as well, but that is kind of in conjunction with the rest of it. And those moments of being able to just focus on the task and let the stress go are certainly helping with my emotional and mental health.