Good news!

Wazzup! Good news: I finally found a therapist! She's part of a Christian counseling center, which I thought might be interesting. I don't necessarily need to incorporate my faith into my treatment, but I've found that some of the most helpful comments from my friend have been faith-related. Knowing that God has a plan for my life and that He is watching out for me is comforting and makes situations seem less hopeless. But anyway, sorry for the religious tangent. Don't worry, I'm not going to try to convert you, and I don't usually talk about my faith on this blog. I actually have another blog where I talk about that!

Getting back to the point: I have an appointment with her in a week. The clinic that she works at is very close to my house, which is nice. She is also covered by my insurance, which is a must, although it will still be about $22 per session for me to pay. I think that seeing her every week would freak my parents out (about the money), so after the first few sessions, I hope that she will be ok with moving to every two weeks. That is, if I like her. This first appointment or so is a test-run, and if I don't mesh with her style, then I can find someone else. However, I REALLY, REALLY hope that we mesh. I'm freaking tired of calling therapists.

Other than that, things have been really chill. Since I've given up on finding a job, I've resigned myself to sitting around the house all the time. My neighbor might need help with her kids, so if she calls, then I'd be happy to make some cash that way. I'm thinking about finding some way to volunteer, but I don't know who I would volunteer for. It would have to be something that I'm interested in, obviously. I used to volunteer with the library, but I didn't like that much. We'll see, I guess.

The other thing that is going on is my workout schedule. I have been spending about 45 minutes on cardio, plenty of time stretching (because I know that if I don't stretch enough, then I get injured), and then I generally wander around and decide which weight machines I feel like using. I usually spend about 2 hours at the gym, which is a huge time-suck. Yesterday I tried out pilates, which was KILLER. I'm suuuuuper sore today. And that brings me to the point of this: I'm getting a little obsessive about the number of days per week that I work out. Someone suggested that four days per week would be a good number, but the American College of Sports Medicine says that you really need 200 minutes of exercise per week to be healthy - if you're actually overweight or obese, by BMI standards, not just feeling like you're overweight or obese (which averages out to about 40 minutes, 5 days per week OR 50 minutes, 4 days per week). That's moderate-intensity exercise, so basically cardio, but not killer cardio. So this all makes me think that I need to be working out more. I have actually worked out four times per week since I got this gym membership, but it doesn't feel like enough. In fact, it's only Monday (which is when I'm starting the week), and I'm already worried that I won't get my four days in. It's so stupid.

But the good news is that I haven't been pushing it too far. Because I know that I will get injured, I haven't been killing myself with the cardio, and I've been trying to switch between leg days and arm days for weights. But I think I do need a break for a day. And I feel guilty taking it. So I don't know if I'll end up working out today... time will tell.