It's been 3 weeks m'peeps. How are we doing. Me? Eh...January aint what it's cracked up to be motivation wise. I do my wall sit whilst brushing my teeth (2 mins) and drying my hair (3-4 mins).
Then I attempt to slap make-up on my sweaty, flushed mug. And I tell myself it is good.
I half-heartedly do some spinning, a little jogging..just enough push-ups but no more. Certainly no more then enough. Blah. I need to re-access the animal within. You can help me with this. Threaten my Community Center records, call me a wimp, get me angry! Let's do this thing!
Think about how you want to look for swimsuit season perhaps. It is far enough away that you could be totally ripped by then. Or at least looking pretty great. Or at least looking tons better then you do now. But it's close enough that you will have to focus and get a little sweaty to do it. So dream a little dream with me. Wouldn't it be nice to feel confident half naked? I think so. Because nothing puts a damper on Summer like thighs that rub together. Let's go.
Apparently the mid-Winter malaise is affecting not just me. You too? No? Yay!
Yay (as in yes)? That's ok. We may be down, but we are far from out.
And with that, I give you
Ah, yes. Back in the day. We were so motivated. Then. Sitting on our couch, chipping and dipping, watching the pigskin move up the gridiron (blah blah), wall-sitting on commercial breaks. All together. No work, no school, hanging out, inspiring one another with future stories constructed in a strange past tense. Those mornings at the gym just beginning to work their lactic magic on our muscles, newly awakened, a bit surprised, tickled at the unfamiliar activity of tearing and mending just commencing within.
That was then. This, friends, I confess, is now. And now I am not sore. I am simply tired. Tired at my desk. Tired of hiring and firing and reading and writing and meeting and being met and figuring out your life and death and mopping up spills and making peanut butter and jelly under the gun of a never-going-away mental egg timer telling me that the piano must be practiced and the homework done and the paper written and the colleague in the hospital and the work needing coverage and the sun ain’t shining and the clouds are low and the slush piles up in the muddy gutter and my boots give no arch support and I’m tired and my muscles don’t really care anymore; it’s the whole frame that quakes.
. . .
Last night I stood under the Christmas-gifted pull up bar hanging in my kitchen, my own personal “Iron Gym.” And I groaned as I just. . .barely. . . pulled together two sets of ten. And I hung my head and fled out the door to tramp the Cub Scouts through three pseudo-miles of frozen nature.
In Sunday School (points for me) two weeks ago, M. told us how he just didn’t like to read. Really didn’t like it. But that he knew he needed to. And so he tried. Every day he tried. To open the book and read. Even though he didn’t like it. An adult, a husband and father, and he still didn’t like it. But he still opened the book, still opens the book, tries at least, every day, to read. What M. didn’t share, but some of us who have known him for a while, knew, was that he suffers from pretty serious dyslexia. So it’s not just that M. doesn’t enjoy it. It’s that he REALLY doesn’t enjoy it because, REALLY, he just isn’t quite built to do it.
Like me and my 25 pull ups. Or my 5:30 mile. Or your 3:00 minute wall sit. Or your 10% weight loss. Most of us are here dragging our way through all of this because we weren’t really built for it. If so, maybe we’d be making a lot more money throwing a ball around an arena somewhere.
But like M. with his reading, we’re not built to utterly fail either. Our bodies and our minds, our souls if you’ll go with me there, need the challenge, need the push. Like M. we just gotta stare back up at that bar and pull. Up.
M. may never enjoy a weekend with War and Peace. I may never win a race. You may never look like Angelina or Brangelina or that naked guy who just won the Mass Senate race.
But M. keeps reading.
7 comments:
Oh my goodness, I am so glad I am not the only one feeling this way this January!
I decided that after 3 babies in the last decade and no more in the future and turning 40 I need to revisit a low calorie diet higher in protein and lower in sugar (my downfall)and rediscover my core muscles (which are entirely missing). I have not joined the throwdown yet because I can't even DO a regular plank, I have been trying to do inclined ones against the stairs or a piece of playground equipment for a start. I am, however totally unmotivated to do anything on a regular basis about the above stated goals, or anything else for that matter. House is in BAD, UNORGANIZED shape and there is far too much STUFF to even contemplate having a place to put it all away. MUST PURGE, MOST STOP EATING TO AVOID/PROCRASTINATE and MUST BEGIN TO MOVE MY BODY! I feel like I need new batteries! Thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one and confirm that yes indeed, it is up to me to do it, whether I want to or not.
Darn! I was all ready to get out and run in this rain, clean my house top to bottom, do 30 min. of aerobics, etc..... until I read your post and now I'm just too tired. I wonder what excuse I'll have tomorrow.
...and I keep exercising. Whe am I going to look ripped? Oh, I know - when I quit eating brownies and carmel corn every night. Yep, that'll do it.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Alright Coach Nathan, alright! I'm moving this jelly to get a flatter belly! I get it already!!! :oP I'm off to punish thineself.
My best, Lynn
I was thinking about you this morning. I cheated a weighed myself(was suppose to wait until the 25th) I was down 3.5 pounds woo hoo! I'll wait to measure myself until monday, though I can't imagine that has changed much since i have only worked out about half the month..ya lack of motivation. I'd really like to feel in shape but at 5 in the morning the will power seems to disappear. I have big plans for Feb. haha we'll see if the come true!
I'm on Day 55 of P90X and still going strong! My best advice is PUSH PLAY! Just get your (collective "your", not YOUR) arse moving, doing SOMETHING everyday. START before the excuses do. Move. Early and often!
You are soooo not alone my sweet friend!! I need to take a long bike ride..and walk..and jog...whewww Im pooped already just thinking about it~
Post a Comment