ladysprite | Self Awareness

I think at least part of what's wrong with the inside of my head right now is from purely physical causes - namely, a lack of physical activity. Over the past year or two, I've become completely dependent on exercise and activity to keep myself feeling sane, healthy, and happy, and I haven't been able to keep it up as much as I'd like, over the past few weeks.

I try to work out in the mornings, and that works fine on days that I don't have to leave for work right after I wake up, but with the hours that I've been working lately, it's been hard to get in a workout on any day other than the weekend. I have my little 10-15 minute focused exercise routines, but that's not what I need right now.

It also doesn't help that, even with weights and modifications, the DVD I have right now feels more or less like a gentle stroll. Maybe a vigorous stroll in a few places, but that's about it.

Sitting here at work, my body feels like it's about to explode. I'm tired to the point of crying, but at the same time I'm edgy and antsy and restless. I want to jump up and down and shake my arms around. I want to do an hour of power yoga. I want to push and pull and stretch and press myself to the limit. God help me, I want to run. I hate running.

I've got a long work day ahead of me, and a night of cooking ahead of that. I don't have time for this. But I've got two new workout DVDs from the library, and the thought of them is much more appealing to me than time communing with the holy trinity of Butter, Sugar, and Vanilla. I think maybe I'll postpone my baking just a little, and see if burning off some of this restless energy does a better job of helping me tame my restless brain.....

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sounds like you do need to make working out a priority if you can, and bake later. I've had that feeling, that desperate need to move. Good luck finding time for it.

Yesterday I had to do a 15-20 minute walk to pick up my motorcycle from where I'd left it. (As a result of picking up a friend after emergency dental surgery in her car.) I found myself jogging part of the way because I just felt the need to MOVE. I think it comes from the couple weeks of fairly intense activity while I was in Switzerland, then down to almost nothing at Worldcon.

Have you considered some regular form of social exercise -- like contradance or Morris Dance? I know that in Eastern Mass there are plenty of opportunities like that. It's a great bout of physical exercise and a good way to meet people as well.

I do dance classes twice a week - they're fun, but even an hour of swing dancing in triplestep isn't enough to make me feel like I've done work.

And I've honestly had bad enough experiences with square and contra dancing that I'm disinclined to try them again. My bias, I know.

My niece likes the Boston Krav center. (I have no idea if there's more than one, but she's at the Boston Conservatory, so it's probably close to there.)

Would frequent short bursts of exercise help on days when you can't do a real workout? I'm thinking of something like running in place as fast as you can for a couple of minutes, just something to get a little uplift to hold you over for another hour or two, then repeat.

I think I get that. I'm nowhere near as active-oriented as you are, but I get antsy when I've been sitting too long. I've started to "allow" myself to take a quick turn around my office building whenver it gets like that, just to let a little of that energy out. And I'm kinda glad there's not enough chairs in the conference room for the full project team, so I've taken to showing up late enough to have an excuse to stand for the whole meeting. Otherwise I sit in front of a desk all day, and I'm starting to realize that it sucks. I even get the running thing. I hate it and I have asthma, but the idea of jogging is starting to appeal to me. *twitch*

Self Awareness

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