The Path: Someone Else’s Legs

This morning I got up and sat around the house for a while, not really motivated to do anything in particular. Do you ever get so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things on your “to do” list that you end up just sitting in the living room and staring at the wall?  That’s what happens to me…and I hate it.

The 5K training schedule I’m following says I need to do 35 – 60 minutes of walking today. Wasn’t motivated to do that either. Knew I would regret it if I flaked. Still didn’t want to do it. I wanted to sit on the couch and watch “Friends” reruns with the dogs. Instead, I decided to ask all the Hot Mess fans on Facebook to vote if I should turn right or left when I got to the path behind our house. The results?  Right.

I really wasn’t motivated in any way to walk today. The only thing that made me even think about it was knowing that I’m committed to walking the Buffalo Boogie 5K in May and that some of you will be there.

I don’t want to let you down.

Still, I sat here. Staring. And then my legs made me stand up…and they walked me out the door. My brain was still saying no, yet out the door I went…like I was propelled by someone else’s legs.

Storm clouds brewing over the path
Storm clouds brewing over the path

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sky was gray and angry like my mood. I do this to myself every time I make myself exercise, but if I don’t make myself do it…I never will. I get angry. I get bitchy. I curse myself for not being born waifish and perfect like Keira Knightly or Gwyneth Paltrow – even though I know no one is actually perfect. I wish I could hide my imperfections from the world whenever I step out the door but my giant body screams for all the wrong kind of attention. And I’m angry at it. And I’m angry at myself for letting it happen.

It started raining. Immediately, I told myself that I should turn back and go home before it got worse. I love convenient excuses. Instead, I checked the weather app on my phone and saw that it was just an ugly sky and the rain would be fleeting.

Just like my crappy attitude. It’s only fleeting.

I feel like a floundering fitness noob with a pissy attitude…but I know in my heart that by the end of the year I’ll be a total badass. So as long as I realize the negativity is only temporary, the important thing is to keep pushing forward.

And so down the path I go…

3 thoughts on “The Path: Someone Else’s Legs

  1. I used to be horrible to motivate to do physical activity and once I managed to motivate, I tended to spend the time grumbling internally about how much this sucks and I don’t want to do be doing it and trying to find excuses to quit two minutes into starting. I was seriously have no idea how many times in my life where I’ve gone to go exercise and just ended up a sobbing mess because of how badly I was fighting the process.

    Things only changed for me once I found an exercise activity that I truly enjoyed doing, which for me was yoga.. and that incidentally helped me realize that some of the issues that I was having previously when i tried to exercise had to do with a psychological response to the feeling of an elevated heart rate. I associated an elevated heart rate with an anxiety attack, thus whenever I did cardio I was getting the normal elevated heart rate experience confused with having an anxiety attack. Crazy, huh?

    http://authenticexperience.org/

    http://authenticexperience.org/

    1. I hear ya, Nik! I agree with you…because when I think about riding a bike or rollerskating/blading all I think of is FUN and not work…or pain…or “Aw, damn…I have to workout.”

      Problem is, I have a long way to go before pain is no longer involved…but I’ll get there!

      Glad to see you here!

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