All posts tagged: Overcoming Struggles

Nepal – Poon Hill Trek 3 (Tadapani, Grandruk; Nepal Travel Review Series)

Day 4: Tadapani to Grandruk Panorama Hotel Teahouse at Tadapani awoke us to the most amazing view after Poonhill – a different side of the Annapurna ranges including Machapuchare (Fishtail) Mountain. It was an experience of a lifetime eating Shin Ramen breakfast facing these amazing Himalayan mountains. More photos of the amazing view: After breakfast, it was a relatively easy descent in the forests, and we stopped by Lonely Planet Restaurant for my favourite Chicken Dal Bhat this trip. It was my favourite, because shortly after we ordered our lunch, the lady boss walked downhill to her backyard, plucked fresh leaves and broccoli, brought them back to her kitchen to watch and cook for us! Nothing gets fresher than this! We arrived at Grandruk after a leisurely 3-4 hour walk for the day. I found Grandruk extremely scenic, with fields of wheat growing, nice cascading fields and donkeys on nice cobbled stairs. Our teahouse for the night, Manisha Hotel was also the most “advanced” hotel we had the entire trek, with attached bathroom n one …

Nepal – Poon Hill Trek 2 (Ghorepani, Poon Hill; Nepal Travel Review Series)

Day 2: Thikedunga to Ghorepani Right after breakfast, we embarked on our “3000 steps” morning on cobbled rocks and loose stones, occasionally giving way to donkeys coming downhill with chickens and suppliers for the locals. I think I climbed 300 steps (which is already 15 floors if you think in city terms) and I asked my guide if we are near…he laughed and said we have at least another 1.5hours to go. It was then I realized how bad my judgment on distances and height was :P. It was heartening to have many trekkers with us, encouraging one another. It was humbling to see older porters carrying 40kg on their backs or local old men carrying heavy logs passing us! Our guide also told us that his grandfather, who is an ex-gurkha, who is in his 70s but still able to walk with 30kg load today. All these sights and stories only remind me of the mental barriers I have created for myself. If so many other older people can do it, I can definitely too, with God’s …

Nepal – Poon Hill Trek 1 (Tikhedhunga; Nepal Travel Review Series)

This is the blog entry I am most excited to write about Nepal, because the trek has been a life changing experience for me: 1)     All through my life, when things get difficult, I sometimes give myself excuses to stop going. But on this trek, no excuses are allowed and I cannot give up because if I stop, I will have no tea-house to stay at for the night and I will be stranded in the mountains, so the only option is to keep going no matter how exhausted I was or how much my leg muscles were crying. Despite having mild food poisoning and a cold at some point on the trek, God helped me to keep going, one step at the time, to complete the step. 2)     I tend to limit myself in my thinking especially in relation to physical fitness, for example, I can never do a marathon or a vertical marathon (~climb 90 stories in Singapore Raffles City). But without realizing it, on day 2 of the trek, we had to …

Weight Loss – Update #1

After 40 days since my first step to healthy living and sustainable weight loss, I have had a few private queries on my progress. Since I promised to be publicly accountable, I have been to 9 Personal Training sessions, and lost about 3kg. It is still a longgggggggggg way to go from my fitness goals that I set over the next 2 years, but I feel great to be off to a good start in first 40 days despite having to do work travels in between. The small new habits I am have tried to form in last 40 days: 1) Exercising 5x/week – taking total of only 4 hours a week 2x Personal Training, more of resistance trainings (1 hour each) – new 2x Cardio (30 mins each) – already doing last 2 years 1x Pilates class (1 hour each)  – already doing last 2 years How I made time for the extra 2 hours of Personal Training was cutting down on social media and TV time. I sometimes catch up on my Social Media …

Confessing My Struggle – Weight Loss

Today, I started on a serious fitness journey that I have been thinking about for the last 2 years – starting my very first session with a personal trainer. Decided to get myself an early birthday present by investing in my health 🙂 My weight has been something I struggled with all my life. I was born a big baby, became overweight by primary school, was in TAF club, always one of those struggling to finish 2.4km in school, hated the NAFA test, got called “thunder thighs” by other girls in secondary school, crash dieted, tried many different weight loss methods but nothing has worked sustainably. I get THE stares from petite clothes salesgirls when I cannot fit Singapore XL sizes. I would eat lesser than my friends but they would lose weight while I would gain weight. It took me many years with God’s help through lots of prayers to overcome the hurt that some of my family and peers have intentionally/unintentionally said about my weight, or me being fat, or calling me names, …

Ramblings of an Ex-Procrastinator-to-be (Week 2&3 of 6) – Sharing Wunderlist2 Experience

Second and third instalment from guest blogger, the Hubbubu. Proud of his progress and hope it encourages all of us trying to form good new habits! — First of all, I must apologise for my “procrastination” on my Week 2 post. As promised, this is a followup post from my commitment in Week 1 to discipline myself and overcome procrastination. This is partly due to the long weekend over here in #Singapore and I decided to go on a Social Network fast. HOWEVER, I was reminded (thanks to #Wunderlist Reminder) to write it which prompted me to note it down last weekend to write today. Here’s my experience (Week 2&3) of using Wunderlist as my task and list maker to help prevent my procrastination. Here is my progress so far: Week 2 & 3 – Getting into the Rhythm It has been a tough ride to remember every little thing to note down. It has been easier to remember that I have to note it down to Wunderlist, but, if I do not do it immediately …

Ramblings of an Ex-Procrastinator-to-be (Week 1 of 6) – Sharing Wunderlist2 Experience

Today’s post is a guest post from my awesome Hubbubu, who has been kind and humble enough to not just admit his struggle, but to blog and share his experience in trying to overcome procrastination to become a more disciplined person. We pray this encourages all of us on this pilgrimage of overcoming our struggles.  This is a 6 week instalment to journey our progress! —- Achieving Better Discipline (By N, the Hubbubu) – Instalment 1/6 I have always been struggling with the issue of Procrastination. Over the years, despite starting many initiatives to overcome the problem (writing on a notebook, using digital list as my reminder) and making some head way, there will always come a time when I will subconsciously digress and inch back to my old ways. This is always a vicious cycle, and every time I slip, I would always feel that I would have achieved more of my potential if I could eliminate my procrastination. More recently, after getting married, my wife brought up a good point – procrastination was …