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Sunday, June 16, 2013

"Worn"

My first thought for “worn” is that I’m worn out.  What happened to those days when I could stay up 3 nights in a row doing homework?  What about those days when I partied through the night and watched the sunrise?

I went to dinner with my coworkers, and they joked about how I am the “young one” in the office.  That’s one of the perks of my job; it makes me feel there’s still a lot more in my life to accomplish.  And even though I am the young one, I can see that my coworkers who are mostly in their 60s and even 70s have a lot more life in them too, especially when you compare them to some of our volunteers and donors.

Aside from bad genes, I think most of us decide when we’re old and start acting like it.  When I was miserably married in my 30s, I felt old and fat and thought that 60 more years of this kind of misery was more than I could bear.  Once the divorce was signed, I realized my body would start cooperating with me again if I just got out and had some fun.  I started dancing every weekend.  I felt better in my 40s than I did in my 30s.

Looking back on my life, I see that it’s been a journey of peaks and valleys.  When I’m happy, I’m fit.  When I’m depressed, I’m not.  Not being fit can lead to bad choices and too many cookies and more reasons to be depressed.

When my brother moved in recently, he came with a lot of exercise equipment.  Some of it’s in the living room, and he’s prone to jumping up during tv commercials to do pushups.  It’s kind of impressive, but I’ve never done a pushup in my life, and I don’t really anticipate a time when I would enjoy doing them.  He’s gotten me to exercise with my iron door stop instead.  5 repetitions of this, then that, then these optional movements, and then I can ignore fitness again and eat M&Ms while I read my book in peace.  Bro is actually a good fitness instructor because he isn’t too pushy about it – though he did mention running an 8 minute mile.  I think 8 minute miles are in the same impossible category as pushups.  I’ll stick with my cast iron door stop.

The point is, we’re only limited by our own thoughts.  If you want to be fit, you can be.  You can start at whatever point you’re at because “fitness” is a vague term.  You can be more fit than you are at the moment by taking the steps instead of the elevator or picking up something heavy a few times just cuz.  It isn’t necessary to eat the whole package of cookies at one sitting.  (maybe?)  After a while, we quit feeling as worn out.

I don’t want to imply that people don’t have real physical issues to get around.  People get sick, and all this stuff is harder when we’re sick.  It’s just a reminder that we can put some effort into feeling better with a little positive action.  Even 5 repetitions of something simple can help.

Our brains work the same way.  “Use it or lose it” has some truth to it, but it isn’t a finite truth.  If you want to be more creative, or smarter, or more charming, or whatever, work on it a bit and it gets easier.

At least I’m working with this theory until I feel like dancing again J

16 comments:

  1. Lovely iron doorstop - good choice for the topic!

    I wholly agree with you. Health/fitness is a state of mind, "we’re only limited by our own thoughts". A good paradigm shift can work wonders!

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  2. So many of my friends are exercising, losing weight - it's the zeitgeist! So Linda, I wish you the urge to dance SOON! I think dancing can heal a lot of things. And stick with your brother...he sounds like a treasure. I'm off now to exercise :-)

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  3. Who'd'athunk I'd be in the swim of the zeitgeist? Good for everybody else who's picking up doorstops with me. Thanks for the comments!

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  4. I once met a woman who boldly stated she hadn't exercised a stick in her life and ate whatever she wanted when she wanted. Instantly I fell in love with this internally beautiful woman. Then she married a dentist. Go figure. :)

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  5. My husband and I always joke that we are still the young ones in Florida. When we visit the in-laws in Naples. But someday it is going to catch up to us. We'll be at Perkins (not) and look around and everyone will be younger than us.

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  6. I figure there's always somebody younger and somebody older than us. It just depends on what you feel like focusing on, but I bet going to Florida makes it a lot easier :) I have no comment about women who marry dentists since I prefer to avoid dentists whenever possible.

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  7. I think if you keep drawing you might feel like dancing again soon :) Good for the soul, right?

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  8. Drawing is always good for the soul, and so is dancing :)

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  9. It can be such a terrible cycle. You feel bad so you don't take care of yourself, then feel worse, then eat more ice cream. I actually ordered some of those stretchy bands for in front of the tv. I think they came two weeks ago? Still in the box! But you have reminded me and by this weekend I will put them to use! (Probably!)

    I think it's a great idea to use a bit of therapeutic drawing to re-ignite your mojo. You can do it! Lovely drawing too!

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  10. Good luck with your stretchy bands Cindy, and keep drawing!

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  11. Very nice pocket format life philosophy, Linda. And you are so right, we are what we think we are. If we think old we get older, and the same goes for the opposite (of course physically our bodies do get older, but our minds don't have to - and we can certainly keep the bodies quite well in shape despite the inevitable aging). If I could dance, I would have invited you for one. :-). Enjoy solstice.

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  12. Thanks Otto! Let's do the virtual dance :) Happy Solstice to you too!

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  13. Linda, that is a very good graphite drawing. You have been able to make the ironer look metal and heavy. Not everyone can do that, even if they can trace the shape. Showing the texture or character of an object can only be done by the better artists. Well done!

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  14. Aw thanks Paula! I was relaxed and watching tv/talking with my brother when I was doing it. Seems like things sometimes come out better when I'm not being too serious about things.

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  15. Oh no! Forgot to do my 50 full body push-ups today.

    Ha! I wish.

    Actually, I have jumped on the bandwagon to improve the upper body strength as the "experts" suggest. So get down there and do 1 push up daily. In a few days, you'll be surprised to be able to do 2. Start with the girlie ones.

    I'm glad you recognize the patterns of your life and what works.

    I like the very realistic iron. Reminds me of one an aunt of mine had.

    Save me a cookie!

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  16. I think as you get older you can also be more daring in what you do. It's like, "what am I waiting for?" I think doing those things keeps your mind and body energized.

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