Careful...Your Type A is Showing

Okay...I have admitted many times that I have a bit of an obsessive personality. What I mean by this is that I usually have a "thing" of the minute and I end up obsessing over this "thing"...until I move on to my next "thing." It manifests itself in all aspects of my life...I become obsessed over drinks (it used to be white chocolate mochas from Starbucks, but now it's Sobe Lifewater). I obsess over shopping (I am trying to ween myself off of ebay at this very moment). I obsess over my hair (that obsession started a few years ago when I decided to go natural...but lately it has been creeping back into my life).

And starting last summer, I started obsessing over healthy living. What does this obsession look like...

1) I subscribe to Women's Health, Shape, Self, Health, and Fitness (I let my Yoga Journal subscription run out a couple of months ago).

2) I am obsessed with Healthy Living Blogs. I generally don't let a day or two go by without skimming my favorite blogs. I don't read every post word for word, from beginning to end...but I peruse...look at the pictures...and make a comment here and there if the post is particularly interesting to me.

3) I obsess over my workouts. Am I working out enough? How can I find time and/or energy to work out more? Recently, I bought 25+ yoga and/or fitness classes from Living Social and/or Groupon. AND an unlimited month of bootcamp. (I'm stocking up for the summer.)

4) New obsession...work out clothes. Found some new stuff at TJ Maxx and Target.

I love this Target top...that you can't really see. I want another one in black.

Shorts for the summer

My latest ebay obsession has been athletic gear. I know, seems kinda gross...but nothing a steaming hot washing machine can't fix, right? Plus, most of the stuff that I try to buy is NWT (new with tags).

I am also waiting on two Gaiam Thirsty Yoga Towels from Barnes & Noble (I had some gift certificates from B&N from Teacher Appreciation Week...and I refused to spend them on work stuff. Who knew Barnes & Noble had yoga towels?!?!?!)

5) I obsess about meal planning. Every Saturday and/or Sunday morning is spent online planning my meals and a grocery list for the week. Immediately following this, I go to two to three grocery stores...come home, and cut, bag, and prepare all of my food for the week.

6) Lately, I have been obsessing over healthy skin too. I've already shared my new skin regimen.

Today (It ALWAYS looks really crappy in the pictures!)

Day One

And as I type, I am sitting here with an aspirin and lemon mask. (My husband just asked me what was on my face...when I told him, he replied "You're gonna melt your face off!" Nice.)

Aspirin and Lemon Mask

7) I obsess over the scale. Well, I used to. It's been a couple of weeks...and since I haven't been weighing myself every week, I think that I have been a little more lax with my eating. (I'm not sure if this is good or bad). I'm gonna get on again next week. Depending on what it says, I'm either gonna put it away for a couple more weeks or I'm going to continue with my weekly weigh ins. We'll see.

8) I obsess with calorie and mile tracking. I faithfully track my calories on Sparkpeople...and my miles on Daily Mile. I like looking at my progress on both of these sites.

For the most part, I really do think that these obsessions have all been pretty healthy. I think that all of the things that I have implemented into my life have all been positive.

But there are times that I feel that I am a little hard on myself. No one is perfect...and if your always trying to be perfect, you are setting yourself up for failure. So, I missed a workout...so, I'm not at my goal weight...so, I'm not doing strength training (thanks, Lisa!)...so, I haven't run a 10K...so, I haven't been eating six balanced meals each day...so, my meals could be greener...and/or cleaner. So what?!

I need to focus on all of those things above that I do do...and celebrate myself for the efforts that I am making.

Being Type A has its pluses...lots of organization, lots of lists, and lots of productivity. But it also has its downfalls. When you don't feel like you are doing it all (and doing it all well), you feel like you're failing not winning.

But I AM winning (me and Charlie Sheen). I have made such big changes in the past year or so...big life changes. Changes that I am proud of. Changes that I will continue for the rest of my life. I will try to be less critical of myself...focusing less on the things that I am not doing and concentrate more on all of the things obsessive wonderful things that I am doing.