Week Nineteen: Overcoming inertia
OK, people. I have been skipping yoga class. I'm not proud of it. I wish I didn't have to tell you, but at the beginning of this, I made a commitment to honesty. Something else I'd rather not admit: I haven't been treating my body like the temple it is, and therefore, I have gained (back) about five-ish pounds. Aside from all of that, though, I've been feeling fidgety and restless and GROSS. Yoga, I miss you!
It has been following an all-too-familiar pattern, the pattern that I get into with each healthy-lifestyle endeavor that I have adopted (and later abandoned) in my adulthood. The first few weeks are tough, but I have enough enthusiasm to power through the suckiness. Then, I realize how good I feel and how much progress I'm making, and I throw myself completely into whatever it is. This lasts a couple of months, tops. Then, I either plateau or get bored, or both. I decide to take a break for a day. A week later, I'll take another break, this time maybe I'll take a couple of days off. Then it all collapses. I'm skipping right and left, and gradually, I'll stop thinking in terms of what I'm not doing and life will basically go back to the way it was before I started.
I know I'm not the first person to flake out on an exercise program, or to waver, even; but this time it feels different. I am not a runner or someone who lifts weights, or a tennis player. I am a yogini. Cheesily, I feel as though I have stumbled across my destiny, here. I believe in yoga, I believe that everyone should do it. If everyone did, we'd all be a lot less stressed, and more connected to each other and the world around us. Spiritually, things were clicking. I was starting to feel like I understood something about the universe...
As a massage therapist, I need to hold myself to a higher standard, to lead by example. How can I give practical advice to others if I can't get my own shit together? Besides that, I need to have enough energy and peace of mind available to be able to do a good job. Blah blah blah... you've heard it all from me before.
I guess it all comes down to this: why is it so hard sometimes to do things that are good for you (even if they're kind of fun) and so easy to do things that are bad for you (even if they make you feel crappy afterward)? I think I somehow got the short end of the stick when it came time to dole out dosages of willpower. I know the answer to these questions, I just need to employ mindfulness. Doing something like washing dishes doesn't suck if you are fully there, feeling the water on your hands and scrubbing the plates gently. Right? Whatever. I can see how I get on other people's nerves when I'm all high on life and I have all of the answers.
Persistence! Time to get back to it, I suppose. All of my vacations are over for the forseeable future, and I have nothing that should impede my further progress save my lack of ambition. My mom is coming to visit next week, so maybe her presence will help me snap out of the funk that I have been in. She wants me to take her to yoga class.
Namaste.
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@Jason: You’re right about that. I get groceries at Schnucks (they carry what I buy, which I can’t say of any other single grocery store in town), and if they have a beer I’m in the market for it’s usually a quarter or two cheaper per 6-…
Best Neighborhood Bar (& Grill) : Urbana - My ‘hood- the ‘Boom! http://www.boomerangbarandgrill.com Go on a Wing Wednesday or Fish Friday, or see a band play some night. Local blue-collar Urbana terroir galore. My only beer snobbish gripe is lack of a pale hopped ale, but you…
The one thing that’s bothered me for a while about the Friar is that, for most commonly purchased adult beverages, you can actually walk down the strip mall to Schnucks and get them cheaper. It makes no sense, but there it is. I suspect it’s because Schnucks…
Maybe I complained enough in person. One time I even explained to the (wholly uninterested) clerk how to navigate the Illinois Statutes web page, and Savoy’s Municipal Code database I wouldn’t know because I only go there when I want to pay 30% more for anything, which is never.
@Rob: You seem to have the weirdest experiences. I’m in Friar Tuck every other week (don’t tell my mom that I’m a lush). They never fail to ask for my birth date but never my age, they never card afterwards, and they often allow me to use…
This column affords me a long-awaited opportunity. I’ve wanted to write my own column called Fuck You Friar Tuck Liquors. but I always thought it’d be too pithy. Here, I can say Fuck You Friar Tuck Liquors and not feel bothered to stretch it out to 750…
Ha! Exactly. You, sir, are welcome at the bar in My House.
Why wait ‘til 3 pm?
I’m excited to go tonight- should be very fun!
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The Alan Partridge lookalike on the right in the first small photo has nothing to condescend to anyone about. AH HA!
Snell and the little Hitlers of the neighborhood association need to chill out. Legitimate businesses should have the freedom to exist without having to endure the slings and arrows of ignorant and misguided opposition.
represent, Matt.
Yeah, I’d agree that Transporter Room 3 is the worst house venue I’ve ever seen.
Food trucks are the start-up, small businesses of the future for those unable to afford real estate. No surprise, that merchants who pay rent, utilities, and maintenance on a property would despise the traveling competition. Or developers who build more empty retail spaces would want to close…
Not so much far-right Tea Party as a balanced, moderate viewpoint between letting businesses succeed and protecting society with reasonable regulations. In spite of what the city reps are saying, the interpretation of policy on this issue certainly has changed. Letting a business start up under one…
I think it’s neat that SP has turned rightward, now espousing a Tea Party-style frustration with government regulations & taxes.
This makes me so sad. (Happy to live in Urbana, though!) Crave Truck has been a GREAT addition to the food choices in C-U, and it’d be a travesty to chase them away. This town should be supporting small businesses. I’m glad to hear that they’ll still…
*slow. clap.* Still offering no threat of intelligence…. I know I said I thought you should just write this whole column yourself next year, Isaac, but now that you’ve gone and taken a “part deux” run at it, I’d like to modify my request: Best Music 2013,…
Actually, it’s kind of nice, the quiet. John Heoffleur’s engaging commentary/dialogue is sorely missed, however. In lieu of someone intelligent saying something, I’ve compiled a list of Honourable Mentions: BEST ROCK BAND: Take Care ::these gentlemen have four completely different sets at their disposal right now (which…
What? Echo! (Echo!) Where’s the dischord and dissent?
This weekend will mark the first appearance of Kayla Brown’s Fire Doll Candle booth at the Market. Check it: http://www.facebook.com/firedollcandles
And without bloodshed. Sounds like the Savoy trustees aren’t as narrow-minded as some of their whiny pants constituents. Do you think quack Snell is already planning an asinine counterattack or is he still laying low after those “threats” against his person?
hey, if hair ain’t gon’ be over your head, my jokes may as well be.
Okay, almost 24 hours later and I finally got Issac’s Summer joke. I’m an idiot.
Excellent. I am glad sometimes American dreams are encouraged, rather than stifled.
Swap the dog for a fire pit and it sounds like you’re writing about my back yard. Very nice.
funny, as your summer begins, another Summer ends.
@Dan - Wow. Unfortunately, I have to refrain from further comment due to a previous employment relationship. But with that brief context you might be able to imagine possible comments or responses I could have.
Oh, by the way, the “Champaign County YMCA” no longer exists. The official name is now the “Stephens Family YMCA” (the website has not been updated, but check out the latest program guide). And no, it’s not just the name of the building. It’s the name of the organization.
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The Alan Partridge lookalike on the right in the first small photo has nothing to condescend to anyone about. AH HA!