[thankful]

Looking back on last week, I'm feeling extra thankful today. I've gotten to spend some quality time with family and friends in some of my favorite places. I don't like to use the word 'blessed', but i'm feeling that way right now. But I'm just going to stick with thankful. Here's a snapshot into what I mean.

Me at Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Fortunately for me, my house in TN is only 30 minutes away from the park.

Generic Thanksgiving picture. The turkey burnt on the outside but the actual meat was delicious. We had ham, turkey, cranberry sauce, mac'n'cheese, mashed potatoes, black beans, brussel sprouts and asparagus. Soooo good. 

Generic Thanksgiving family picture at my house. 

Me at Douglas lake. The clay i'm standing on is underwater during the summer, but they control the dam so the water level is low in the winter. It's nice to feel that small. 

All in all, I had an amazing Thanksgiving week and am having another great one this week. Hope you all are too!

"i have decided to stick with love. hate is too great a burden to bear."

- martin luther king, jr. 

[my week in workouts | week four]

Full disclosure: I am currently ashamed to be posting this. I hate what it says. BUT. I'm keeping up with my plan and will continue to be accountable in posting my workouts and progress. Obviously, this was a hard week to stick to workouts. My body was adjusting to Tennessee weather [which basically means cold mornings sleeping in] and it was also Thanksgiving week. Regardless, those are not excuses for me only getting 3 days of workout in [insert monkey emoji with hands over his eyes].

Despite my failure to put in the work, I will say that I succeeded in staying healthy so far. It's been hard, but I've been eating healthy ever since I got here. The best part of all is the change in attitude I have at where I am. One month ago, I would've had so much self-hatred for not having a productive or 'fit enough' workout this week. Not today. Today, I'm accepting. I'm realizing that life happens and choosing not to waste my time and energy being mad at myself. Instead, I'm learning and gearing up to adapt and change my behavior so I don't repeat my previous mistakes. So here's my horrible week in workouts from last week. Here's to improvement.

"the temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."

- chinese proverb