February 16th – Day 46  of My 2026 Daily Activity Journal

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2026, Health and Fitness

On my blog yesterday, I noted that one of my more recent motivators is James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits.

This book offers a plethora of practical advice,  so having read it, I followed an Atomic Habits Fan  Facebook page and ultimately signed up for a weekly email newsletters.

In this past Thursday’s  email, James clear passed along the following wisdom..

“The loser has more in common with the winner than the person sitting on the sidelines.

    The winner and the loser each had the courage to try.  Both risked embarrassment.  Both were willing to face uncertainty.  Both were stubborn enough to continue.

   Success is endurance in disguise.  It belongs to the person who can absorb the losses without absorbing the identity of “loser”.   It’s the courage to start – and to stick with it – that is the real separator.

   Results tend to find the person who stays in the game.

    The sidelines are safe, but sterile.  Nothing grows there.”

It is for such wisdom that I read and that I follow such authors.

It is four years since I began my Health and Fitness Journey.    I have appreciated the successes, but I have also suffered my share of the setbacks.

Today, I am facing another setback…

A few days ago I saw my Respirologist.  I went to pick up a couple of prescription renewals for inhalers that I use to help manage asthma, copd, and bronchiectasis symptoms.  My Respirologist provided the prescriptions plus gave me a requision for a sputum culture sample as I had a wheeze in my lungs and an increase in coughing since my hernia surgery.

I submitted the sample and last night the results came up on my Sask Health Record. +4 pseudomonas aeruginosa.   I won’t know the treatment plan or the prognosis until I see my Respirologist, but from what I have read so far it sounds like another setback to me!

I cannot say I am not frustrated – but I am grateful for my Respirologist, my friends, my family, and my professional team of ‘motivators’ who will  help me push through another loss without becoming a hapless loser.  I am not ready to be relegated to the sidelines!

Today is Monday ‘Family Day’ in Saskatchewan.  As much as it is a holiday, for me it is a day for aerobics, weights, snd treadmill.  

Tomorrow, I will undoubtably hear from my Respirologist. 🤞🤞🤞

Tha’s it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💞🤗💪

February 15th – Day 45  of My 2026 Daily Activity Journal

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2026, Health and Fitness

Yesterday marked the forth anniversary of my Health and Fitness Journey.

This journey has taken me to places I  could never have imagined. 

Over the past four years:

1) I have… Done things I would never have attempted to do.  (Balance has never been my friend!)

2) I have …  Met my two BEST Forever Friends 💞💞💞 (two people who both live thousands of miles away from me, who are decade(s), younger than me, and who (on the surface) couldn’t possibly have anything in common with me. 🕺💃

3) I have… Traveled the narrow gravel backroads through the Black Hills of South Dakota with my daughter – going around curves with  a five mile per hour speed limit 😳

4) I have … With my husband’s cautious approval, adopted a GIANT Molly dog!

5) I have… Attempted, and successfully completed, major challenges  – like my 2025 Daily Food Diary. 

6) I have… Lost 40 pounds and fit back into my favourite Size 6 jeans

Seventy years old and they fit like they did when I was forty! 👍
Smoke break in my laundry room with my BIL Jerry same pants! 🤣

7) I have… read books by authors I would never considered reading!

I have been reading motivational books for decades –  spiritual, academic,  or philisophical type books.

I read the likes of Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay, Norman Vincent Peale, Eckart Tolle, and Rhonda Byrne…

Over the past four years, I have expanded my reading to include authors such as James Clear (a former sports coach) and David Goggins (a former US Navy Seal, ultra marathon runner, and forest fire jumper) .   Motivation through Physical Fitness authors.

Not only have I read their books – I continue to follow them on social media! In their pages and on their posts I have acquired wisdom and practical advice that I would never have been aware of if I had stayed within my typical reading gendre. 

That is the thing about journeys that take us out of our comfort zone.. we learn, we grow, and we change!  ☺️

A couple of weeks ago, I attended an online Tony Robbins seminar.  On the final day, my husband Dan went out and bought me this poster that now hangs on our kitchen wall.    I am so fortunate that I have a husband who always has, and continues to,  support my Health & Fitness Journey.

That’s it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💞🤗

February 14th – Day 43 & 44  of My 2026 Daily Activity Journal

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2026, Health and Fitness, Uncategorized

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Wishing everyone a day of Love, Peace, and Happiness. 💞

Dan got me the roses, I got him the chocolates and the desk calendar.  Molly has not been forgotten!  Dan is off to Cowtown to pick up a treat for her and hopefully some collagen chews.

I love the color of those roses! They are so pretty.   Neither of us NEEDS the chocolates, but they are nice to have. 🙂

Hopefully the desk calendar will  help Dan and I decide what to have for suppers, going forward.   I know how fortunate we are to have such a decision to make – but somehow it is typically our most difficult decision of the day!

Today is also the FORTH ANNIVERSARY of the day I began my Health and Fitness Journey!

It has been a rough, winding, amazing journey so far.

During these past four years I have struggled through countless setbacks and celebrated even more unimaginable  benefits.

The most unexpected SETBACK was getting knocked to the ground by our Pyrenees puppy and breaking my left arm.   It was the first (and only)  bone I have  broken in seventy years and I may be the only sibling of the six of us who has broken a bone. 

AND.. four years ago, who would have ever IMAGINED that we would lose our precious little Cavalier Kat – and welcome our amazing (slightly clutsy)  Great Pyrenees Molly into our lives in the first place?

The most awesome BENEFIT that I have experienced so far has been realizing how much  potential grows as we do!  Physically, mentally, emotionally,  and spiritually I am so much stronger than I was four years ago.   And, I possess so much more potential than I dreamed possible four years ago!

As far as I have come in the past four years, I cannot imagine what lies ahead for me!

The sky is the Limit!

That is it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 🤗💞

February 12th – Day 38, 39, 40, 41 & 42  of My 2026 Daily Activity Journal

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2026, Health and Fitness

It has been a few days, but I am back on track.. in real life if not on WordPress.

A bit of family news…

Last night, our granddaughter Prim went to her highschool openhouse.  In September, she will take another leap towards adulthood. 😳

And.. Today is daughter Jennifer’s birthday. She is working the evening shift today but she has some day time off to enjoy herself.   She has taken up building miniatures, so birthday shopping was relatively easy this year.

The top one is one she just finished.  Dan & I gave her the kit on the bottom left and her girls (Genie, Maddy, & Prim gave her the one on the bottom right.)

The detail in these miniature kits is crazy.  The total finished size is no more than 12″ x 12″ x 12″ for each and she assembles every piece of furniture and accessory.

My week has not been quite as much fun. 

On Tuesday, I went for an appointment with my respirologist.  All I went for was a prescription refill.  I left with the prescription AND a requisition for a sputum test.

I can deal with the test, though who knows why it would take six years to decide to do one.  But, these appointments are so freaking stressful.  I get all pumped up, go in feeling GREAT and come out wondering how I have lived this long.

It is rediculous! I know that nothing I have is fatal.  I know I am doing everything in my power to stay healthy – including taking my inhalers as prescribed.  But according to Downer Dave, I have one foot in my grave and the other on a banana peal. 🤦‍♀️  Unless, I actually am sick – then I am fine.

Anyway, I got the test done.  I got over it and I am back to my regular routine of meds, lung clearing, vitamins and supplements, fresh air, diet, sleep, and exercise – aerobics, light weights, and treadmill.

I am feeling great – at least until I have to go back to get the results from my test. 🙂

That’s it for today! Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞

February 7th – Day 37  of My 2026 Daily Activity Journal

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2026, Health and Fitness

Another wonderful weather day in Saskatchewan! Any day that we reach above freezing point between November and March is a wonderful day in my mind.

I will be heading outside to battle ice on the walks shortly.  It may be a short battle as it is still foggy out and my lungs still struggle with excess humidity.

But I do have some permafrost patches to deal with.
And.. more ice, water, and a New Year’s Eve hat that flowed down the city sidewalk to our house last night.  🎊

On Monday, I attended the bonus/final session of the 2026 Tony Robbins Rise Up Seminar.  Much of this session dealt with finances and Private Equity Funds  which I will not try to paraphrase but may be worth checking into.

The rest of this session was odds and ends of common sense and good advice..

1) Stop using ‘MY’ to claim ownership of the negative –  my fear, my anxiety, my pain…

2) Searching for purpose is the cause  of stress.   Purpose varies depending on where you are, who you are with, what you are doing…Focus on what you want, progress, and results. 

3) Perfection is the lowest standard of all. (My first in-laws were perfectionists.  I won’t  go into details,  but I will say I  cannot fathom how people who did everything so ‘perfectly’ could justify their cruelty and ignorance). 

4) Actions over feelings.  Stop feeling and start doing!

5) Stop carrying around your old story (and start creating your new story.)

6) Problems are not permanent.

That is it for Tony Robbins seminar – or the best of  what I took out of it!   I enjoyed it and it reignited my interest in such works.

That is it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💞🤗

February 6th – Day 36  of My 2026 Daily Activity Journal

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2026, Health and Fitness

Day Three of Tony Robbins 2026 Time To Rise seminar covered a subject that was new to me – although apparently far from new in the fields of literature and personal growth.

Despite my unfamiliarity with the concept, I found it quite intriguing how easily I could relate to it. 🤷‍♀️


The Hero’s Journey

1. Ordinary world – Day to day life as we have come to expect it (for better or worse)

2. Call to adventure –  major life change or challenge

3. Refuse the call – denial

4. Meeting mentors/allies – In person, online, in books,  possibly one or more animals, guides, supporters, and  friendships built from  sharing a similar   situation

5. Get on the path/cross the point of no return  start making progress on the journey until one is fully committed

6. Do battle – the ordeal & transformation – setbacks, break through, plateaus, more setbacks, more break through…

7. Victory and reward! 💪

Return to ordinary life and  wait for the next call to adventure….

Looking back, I can see this pattern replayed multiple times in my life,  despite being unaware of it,  at the time.  

My personal takeaway  from this session..

The Hero’s Journey is a practical plan to  help us to accept life’s challenges, to  make the most of them, and  to use them as an opportunity to  change, to grow, to strengthen,  to evolve. 

For me, this session was also a huge reminder to allow my family and loved ones to accept their own calls to adventure.  I am not saving them or protecting them, by stepping in and depriving them of their opportunites to be challenged.   As Rumi would say (in similar words) I can walk the road with them,  but I cannot walk the road for them.

Tomorrow, I will touch on the final or bonus day of the Tony Robbins online seminar that I attended.   Then I will set this to rest…

For now I am out to do battle with the ice on our walks.  I pushed through and was quite happy with what I accomplished yesterday.  Unfortunately,  snow and ice melted off of our neighbours walks overnight, ran downhill, and pooled on our front walk – where it refroze.  🤦‍♀️

That is it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞

February 5th – Day 35  of My 2026 Daily Activity Journal

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2026, Health and Fitness

Another breakthrough on my Journey to Health & Fitness this morning! 😁

Today I am wearing a pair of yoga pants that I bought a couple of years ago.  They are a medium.  A medium what I have no idea, but they have always been uncomfortably snug, especially before my hernia repair.  Now they fit perfectly and are super comfortable.

They were perfect for doing my aerobics this morning and will be fine for getting out and attacking more of the permafrost on our sidewalks today, and for doing my treadmill time later. 👍

Last night,  I spent more time reading ‘The Magic of Believing’ by Claude Bristol.  It takes focus – and no doubt a second reading, but I am enjoying it.

On Day 2 of the online Tony Robbins seminar, the Power of Belief was one of the things he emphasized.

There are a few good points that he made:

1) Belief is the absolute certainty about what something means.

2) Beliefs create and beliefs destroy.

3) Your identity belief is who you are.

I have always believed that our beliefs, our attitude, and our emotions create the quality of our lives. 

As much as successful, motivational  speakers validate my beliefs – they are not the ones who drive them.

The credit for my strong positive beliefs goes to observing and dealing with people who cling to destructive beliefs.

Those people are consistently miserable.  Regardless of what they  have,  it is never enough, never what they want,  or someone is trying to take it away from them.   They lack appreciation for anything.  They are chronic victims – they want justice but they will never forgive.  They see only the worst in anything,  anyone, or any situation.  They refuse to accept responsibility for anything, then whine that they are powerless to change or fix anything. 🤦‍♀️

Over the course of my employment years, I worked with a lot of such people.  They never failed to amaze me.. especially when they complained about how difficult and miserable life was to them. 

Beliefs create and beliefs destroy! 

That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞

February 4th – Day 34  of My 2026 Daily Activity Journal

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2026, Health and Fitness

It is TEN DAYS until I celebrate the Four Year anniversary of my Health & Fitness Journey. 

Over the past few days, I have been taking an online Tony Robbins seminar.  One of the main ideas that he was trying to impress on us was to become aware of the stories we tell ourselves.

One of the main stories that I have told myself throughout my life was that I was weak and sickly.   Everything and everyone validated that vision I had of myself.

I lived with that vision until I actually was so weak and sickly that I could not go on like that anymore.   I knew that I could be somewhat  healthier and stronger so I determined to find a way to make it happen.

First off, I determined my core issues – allergies and a collagen deficiency (which for the most part affect my respiratory system).

Through years of trial and error,  much support and encouragement from family and friends (especially WordPress friends) I persevered until I got to where I am today.

But I clung to my story that ‘I am  weak and sickly, doing everything in my power to deal with my health issues’.   And,  I was stuck there…

In the past few days, I have come to realize  (partly through attending this seminar and partly due to the latest tweak in my personal healthcare routine) that I am NOT destined to be weak and sickly.  In fact,  I am healing and my strength is increasing.

I know that I have work to do.  I will always have to maintain my healthcare routine from my prescription inhalers to my supplements, to my fitness workouts.

But, I also know that as long as I can and do take care of my body, I will be strong and healthy.

This is my new (health) story. 

Yesterday,  I did my regular workout and my thirty minutes on the treadmill. In the afternoon, I went outside with Molly and cleared the snow off of our front landing and steps and our front walks.

Starting today, our temperature is supposed to be plus 5C (41F) and higher in the days to come.  

On top of my regular workouts and treadmill time, I will be out clearing the ice from all of our walks and paths.  Since we had days of freezing rain before our recent deepfreeze there is an abundance of ICE to deal with.

With my past four years of healing and increasing strength, and some help from Mother Nature… I’ve got this!

That is it for day.  Take care and have a great day! 💞🤗

February 3rd – Day 32 & 33  of My 2026 Daily Activity Journal

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2026, Health and Fitness

Just when I thought we were moving on, Tony Robbins threw in a bonus three hour session yesterday.   I hemmed and hawed and decided that I had gotten enough out of the first three sessions  to invest another three hours to the cause.

Sitting in on the bonus session was well worth the time.  More about that in a future blog. 🙂

I still had ample time to do my aerobics yesterday morning, make a supper of spaghetti and meatsauce with a side order of broccolli and cauliflower, clean up the kitchen after supper and hit the treadmill for thirty minutes.

I even managed to read a few pages of a book that I got on Kobo lately after my sister-in- law recommended it.   It is interesting and surprisingly timely considering it was published decades ago!

I have never had any doubt that our thoughts, beliefs, and attitude affect the quality of our lives.  But, it is pretty amazing to see my beliefs validated by a book that was written and published a decade before I was born.

That’s about it for today.  Dan and I just had our afternoon tea so it is time to head outside for some fresh air before supper.  Take care and have a great rest of your day! 🤗💞

A little snow clearing might be in order!

February 1st – Day 27, 28, 29, 30, 31   of My 2026 Daily Activity Journal

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2026, Health and Fitness

It is FEBRUARY! January is behind us and I am ready to move on and UP!

For the past three days I have been attending the 2026 Rise Up (online) seminar with Tony Robbins.  

I have been familiar with Tony Robbins forever! I have never been drawn to his program.  From the advertisements for his  seminars,  there seemed to be   a lot of noise, a lot of hype, a lot of jumping  around and hootin’ and hollerin’.  NOT  my comfort zone!  He struck me as being a snake oil salesman and his program rather cultish and goofy. 

(I am more comfortable with spiritual or metaphysical teachings.  I have never hooted or hollered in my life and jumping around has been  confined to aerobic workouts and that one time I stepped on a bumble bee.)

But, I was in a January funk and Tony Robbins has been successful for a LONG time, so I signed up.. TEN HOURS of Tony Robbins.

The seminar was free.  There was an upgrade available for a small price, but I did not feel it was necessary.  Committing to  TEN HOURS of anything is enough to ensure that I will give it my all.

My overall impression was that I like Tony Robbins.  He appears genuine and sincere. His wife Sage, who appeared for a few minutes on Day 2 seems to be very intelligent with an abudance of common sense. 

I appreciated that Tony Robbins provides a solid plan for participants to follow to overcome specific challenges and to create more control over their lives in general.  But, what I appreciated most was that he explains WHY each step of any such plan is important.

On day one, Tony touched on what it takes to succeed in any endeavor before we even begin to work towards a goal..

There are only three steps and each must be taken in turn..

1) State.. Before anything else one must get into a proper state – excitement, enthusiasm, joy!   This is where the jumping around, hootin’ and hollerin’ comes in.  The energy kicks things off strong, but the emotion locks it in.

This rang true for me.  I know it works!  I have tried all of my life to build up strength and stamina, and I have failed over and over! But, four years ago when I began my Health and Fitness Journey, that is exactly what I did.  I didn’t think about it, I knew I had to do something so I got off my butt and I danced to Buddy Holly. 

TWO MINUTES and I was dying.. but I was pumped up, ready to go, and LOCKED IN!

2) Story.. See where you are coming from, take an honest look at where you are, and decide where you want to go.

It took me months to set any kind of goal and I keep moving the goal post further out as I go.  As I become more, I want more (health and fitness). 

3) STRATEGY.. It doesn’t matter what you want or how badly you want it, you need to have a plan. 

That has also been something that is constantly changing for me.  I am changing, I am learning, the plan has to change with my changing needs.  But I always have a plan to proceed.

If I had gotten nothing more than this out of the entire seminar, it would have  been worth it.   But there is more that I will touch on in blogs to come.

That is enough for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💞🤗

Update on my crochet project…