It’s been a bit more than two months – two months and 10 days, to be accurate – since my surgery and I have lost 14 kilos so far. I am over the moon, to be honest. I know there’s still a long way to go, but what has been accomplished so far is simply amazing and uplifting.
Theoretically I am about 17 kilos away from my goal, which is to be reached by the end of July 2023, so that means losing less than two kilos per month to get there… I am super optimistic and hopeful, regularly exercising and following my diet, so fingers crossed I’ll get there!
Good news are my clothes are now looking looser and I need to get new clothes that fit better, bad news is I practically have a new body every few weeks, so purchasing a new wardrobe is definitely out of the question. Trying to adapt will be the secret, until I get to a balance point.
On a different note, I have been taking painting lessons for a few months now. You’ve seen in my previous posts I have been oil painting for some years, but I had read about watercolors, and how the technique is rather different, and one has to be more careful because mistakes cannot be corrected as easily as with oil or acrylic paints. So I must admit I started my first few lessons with lots of fear, until I realized the medium is much more forgiving than what I had expected. I mean, of course mistakes cannot be covered as easily as with oil paints, but making a mistake is not the end of the world – to be fair, it never is, regardless of the situation, not only when painting 😉
This is my latest oil painting, inspired by my daughter:
One of these days, when talking to one of my classmates who was very nervous before making a change to her own work, I remembered I said something like “Do not be afraid – it’s only a bit of pigment and water on a piece of paper. You can always start again.” And I then understood learning these new techniques is deeply philosophical – at least the way I see it – and those principles of course can be applied to many things. The secret, I believe, is always learning new things.
So, so far I have completed three works – yeah, I know, it’s not a lot, but my surgery got in the middle and I truly am in no hurry of completing fast works. I mean, I only take two-hour long classes once a week, and to be honest, it is more a time to relax and just for myself, more than a race to see how many works get done.
Two of those works are already hanging on the wall by the entrance to my place, and the third one I gave to my sister and my brother-in-law for their wedding anniversary last month, and right now I am working on a fourth piece but I ended my last class knowing I didn’t like what I painted and laughing I simply told my teacher “Welp, this isn’t nice at all, but hey, this is a problem for future Yits to solve!” and I think that pretty much summarizes how much I am enjoying these art classes… If I screw up, there’s no problem, I can always correct or start again next week; if I succeed, then I can display my effort with pride, and also, start all over the following week.
Bottom line, having a hobby that helps one leave their concerns behind, at least for a couple of hours, is deeply powerful and edificating.
