Exercise is a great stress reliever for me. I know my day will be better the next day if I spend at least 20 minutes working up a sweat. I can focus. I’m smarter, funnier, and better looking after working out a couple days in a row. Maybe that last part is because of the confidence I get from the feeling of accomplishment.

But, I’ve been having trouble getting back into a routine.

So, I thought I would tell the internet that I’m having trouble and write up the things that I do that encourage me to exercise regularly.

1. Forgive myself for getting out of shape
   If I haven’t worked out in a while, I feel a little ashamed. I know if feels good to work out, but why did I do this - or not do this - to myself. I have to let this feeling go and focus on the present
2. Start off small. I start off with a small goal. If I’m feeling winded, maybe just start off with a small warm up to get the body moving. I try not to compare myself with what I imagine I was able to do, what I should be able to do, and the ability that I see in others. Comparison is the thief of joy and the joy is from working out.
3. Have a time that I’m going to do this
   I have this problem with so many other things. It doesn’t matter if I want to do something if I don’t set aside time to do it. You can’t move things forward if there isn’t a time for it.

Tomorrow, I plan on doing 5 pushups as soon as I get out of bed. Promise!

Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day and you see companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google post about how they are making things more accessible for their users¹.

It’s good to see major companies doing this as it helps everyone. I just wanted to take this time to remind you that you can do your part by making your website a little more accessible.

A good place to go is WebAim and looking at the page on accessibility for designers. After reviewing the guidelines, you can checkout this page of accessible website examples.

I was feeling really run down the last couple of days due to allergies and lack of sleep. Isn’t is so amazing how coughing and sneezing can keep you up at night. Tonight, I figured I would try to get some better sleep and look up some resources on how to do it.

How to Sleep Better

I enjoy the posts on wikiHow because of the illustrations and how they break it things down into individual steps that you can do.

20 Tips for How to Sleep Better

I like linking to organizations because they don’t have any ads before you get to the information or links that say Click Here for production information. I’m sure that you can find something on this list that you can do in your own life.

How to Sleep Better

I like this article because it has more details on how the tips actually contribute to better sleep.

Well, I’m hoping to get back into writing regularly. Tomorrow, I’m going to be writing a little bit about exercise.

Sometimes, it’s hard to think about how to make it through the day. I’ve had my moments where I thought the world would be better without me.

I’m lucky to no longer have those thoughts play around in my mind as they did back then.

I’m not going to say that my life is perfect now, but I will say that it has gotten better. I have a better understanding of what kind of solution I was thinking about and how it really just makes things worse.

It’s not over. This world needs you and things can get better, but not without you in it.

Hemispheric Views had another great episode of their podcast. This one was about the perfect album. Defining perfect as an album that you can listen to without skipping tracks and just enjoying. Since the initial release of the podcast, people have been blogging about what they feel is good.

I’ve thought about a couple albums but one that comes to mind right now is Louden Up Now by !!!. I bought this album while I was in college on a whim and I find myself putting it on when I’m feeling particular angsty or frustrated.

It is ** extremely explicit ** and puts my frustration into words with a beat. But, after the album is over, the anger is disrupted and I feel like I can move on.

Of course, sometimes I just feel like listening to Pardon My Freedom on repeat and letting the world just float on by.

But I feel that it’s the other tracks that jostle me out of that feeling as it becomes a little absurd with the lyrics and the beats are just erratic enough to shake me out of a funk.

It took me a while to find other information about this group online because I thought they only had one album and the fact that looking up !!! didn’t work in the search engines that I was using because of the wildcard nature of their names.

I highly encourage you to check out the listing of Perfect Albums that Robb Knight put together.