I haven’t lost any weight since December. I haven’t gained any weight either. I count that as a win.

I have kept my various email inboxes if not completely empty at least close to it. I found that very motivating. I actually found myself looking forward to going through my email so I could empty my inboxes again. Even though I went one entire day without touching my email, I was still able to keep pretty good email habits. I’m really pleased about this. I don’t know if I have found the key to a clean inbox but it kind of feels that way. Stay tuned as I’m sure this process will change.

I haven’t been to the gym in a long while. Not all of that is laziness. I’ve been sick and recovering, then I came down with food poisoning so going hasn’t actually been an option. I am planning on getting to the gym four times this week – that’s actually the goal every week, at least four visits. Hopefully more, but I figure it’s better to start with the minimum.

This is partly why I take not gaining any weight as a win. I’m maintaining, even though I’m not exercising. The hope is that once I start exercising, I’ll actually start losing weight again. I’m not far from my goal weight. I’d like to get there by the end of January.

I’ve been making bone broth and drinking a cup of it every morning. I’ve done this in the past. When I do, my skin gets so soft. It isn’t anywhere near as dry as it was either.

In addition, I’ve started taking hyaluronic acid (HA) every day. There’s a lot of research showing that taking it orally improves skin moisture. I figure that’s helping in terms of my skin not being so dry.

However, more importantly, there’s research that shows that HA will also help your joints heal. I injured my knee back in October 2018. (Yes, more than a year ago.) It’s finally starting to feel MUCH better. I think it’s actually healing. I’m starting to do very cautious knee strengthening exercises as I think they might help at this point.

As you get older, you keep wondering, okay, is this is? Is this as good as this joint/injury/pain is going to get? Will it never actually feel 100% healed again? I had figured that my knee was never going to get any better than it was, despite physical therapy and constantly babying it. Suddenly, it’s healed. I’m no longer in constant pain. It still creaks a little, but all my joints are much quieter. Rather remarkable.

In terms of publishing work, I am still feeling overwhelmed. There are just too many things to do! Being sick and not working as much hasn’t helped. This week we’re being very social, and I’m going to see people every day from now until Sunday. Next week I have to put my head down and just work.

As for the writing, there have been good days and bad days. I need to stay on top of it, as I’ll have a workshop at the end of the month. I really love the novel that I’m writing. I spent time doing an outline for it, basically a sentence a chapter. I threw most of that out and have rewritten it now. Book has fewer chapters but I’m super pleased with how it’s going.

I just have to keep reminding myself that it’s my brain that isn’t working (like today) and not an actual problem with the novel.

What are you working on this week? What steps are you taking to improve your life?