How about a little peek behind the curtain, readers? In my Sunday Accountability post, I decided one measure of accountability would be listing this week’s blog topics. I did that mostly on a whim, though some of them are things I have been meaning to write for awhile. Looking back at the post, it seems “challenging myself” was the topic for today…and I honestly have no idea to what I was referring. Not a clue. Rest assured, it was going to be something AWESOME, but it totally escapes me.
Can I reverse engineer a post based on a topic I thought of on Sunday and now can’t comprehend? We are all about to find out! Just a warning that this could turn out to be more meandering and nonsensical than normal. As if such a thing is possible.
Since I stopped competing regularly in sports (basically post high school) the only athletic activity I’ve done consistently is running. Or depending on your definition of “consistently” (or your definition of athletic activity) running and golf. But mostly it’s been running. In my late 20s, I ran a bunch and became reasonably serious and competitive. Neither of those things still apply, but it remains the thing I fall back to when I want some exercise and activity. What I’m thinking about today is why it’s so hard to get into new exercise or workout habits, or more specifically why it’s so easy to fall out of them.
Here is a semi-comprehensive list of the activities I have either started to do regularly, or threatened to do regularly: tennis, biking, paddle boarding, downhill skiing, snowshoeing, boxing, yoga, random Peleton workouts, and jump rope (no really, I bought a weighted jump rope and everything…I don’t know where it is. Maybe in my car?). Currently I’m fixating on yoga because it’s something I’ve attempted a few different times, and ultimately never sticks. Most recently I signed up for a fancy app with some yoga variation last fall, and tried to commit to doing it three times per week. I did that, and even surpassed that, for maybe two weeks. Then we got a dog, which apparently was a big enough disruption to the status quo that I have not done it since. I’ve also barely run since then, which is a problem in and of itself.
So why is this so hard? Why have I said to myself nearly every morning since then “okay, getting back into the yoga routine” only to, uhhhh, not get back into the yoga routine? I legitimately don’t have an answer here, I’m mainly hoping that by writing this it might inspire me to try and actually do it. Though I suspect that the answer lies somewhere in the notion that, for me, yoga is a challenge. And we tend to find reasons to put off things that are challenging for us.
I can fall back into running pretty easily. No, I’m not as fast as I used to be, and that’s frustrating. But I can go a month without running, then throw my shoes on and run a credible mile or two and still feel okay. Not great, but okay. I suck at yoga. I have no upper body strength and am shockingly inflexible. Physically, not personality-wise. Seriously, there’s a better than 20-percent chance one of my hamstrings will just randomly snap off my body like a rubber band sometime when I stand up. Which is why I think I keep trying yoga because I suspect it would be beneficial for me. Sadly, writing about it in this post is almost certainly the closest I will come to doing it today. Probably because it’s a challenge. (See, challenging myself…I knew I could work it in)!
I’m a world-class avoider, particularly of things that make me uncomfortable. Like conflict. Or the potential for conflict. My wife frequently (and justifiably) gives me a hard time for failing to make phone calls I should make. I justify it in my head by saying “oh I’m busy, I will get to that next time” when instead it just keeps getting pushed down the road. In this case, yoga is the phone call I’m avoiding, just putting it off saying I will get to it tonight, or tomorrow when I have more time. There is plenty of time…so how about I make a commitment here that I will open that silly app sometime in the next five days. Pinky swear.
Or maybe I’m thinking too deeply about this and I’m lazy. Either is very possible. I will keep you all posted.