I need p90x.
Perhaps not the actual product, but the hard-hitting muscle confusion routines built into the program. Two years back (or so) I stumbled on to a site called bodyrock.tv. For a handful of weeks earlier in the year I dabbled in the routines, finding that I felt much better on the days I worked out. Now I know that exercise makes me healthier and more energetic, but I can see how so many people feel like that isn’t enough to want to do it.
My Mother-in-law was just in town, and she is endemic of the problems I am talking about. Of course it all swirls back towards motivation–the difference between thinking about doing it and doing it. Something holds her back from taking care of herself. IMHO, it is a high level of untreated depression, but I am no doctor, just a son-in-law who sees things. Of course, I am also the guy munching on a brownie while I write this and expecting to have a slice of strawberry rhubarb pie a la mode after a burger and fry dinner. Will I work out tonight? Unlikely. I know I need to do it, but I simply do not do it. That change of behavior has not come.
Some Thoughts:
1. I mentioned the mom-in-law thing earlier. I didn’t mention that she will no longer be moving out to AZ to join us. The kids are too much for her. She prefers their quiet and civilized cousin, but for whatever reason refuses to live with that bunch either. I think it is a good thing that we know she is never going to move in. She’s talked about doing it for the last five years, and her waffling really shaped our home buying options. We bought in order to accommodate her and her husband, but now we don’t have to do that. On the other hand, now we have bedrooms for each of the boys should they choose to split up. The waffling annoyed me more than the choice itself. I want her to be happy and she is clearly not happy with, nor does she actually even enjoy, her oldest two grandchildren. I respect that she feels (and others do as well) that they are too boisterous, but I don’t think that is a terrible quality in 5 and 7 year olds. The 3 year old is swiftly marching down that same path. The other path they are all marching down is one of fierce determination and strong will. This is what I want from them, and their behaviors are certainly a healthy side effect of that.
2. Being in a place after writing about that place for years can be a humbling experience. Seattle is such a different city from the one I built up on paper that I feel guilty for not going sooner. Again, the one thing that I can take from this moving forward is the idea of hills. The one thing I can take from the experience is that as a writer you need to see where you write about in order to be authentic. The best place to learn about any city is in its many bars. I didn’t get a chance to explore the watering holes to my satisfaction, so next summer I’m rocking a timeshare.
3. Working out of the Basha’s Starbucks in Maricopa. They left the TV on the weight loss channel, so I am bombarded with attacks from p90x and Sensa. I suppose the universe is sending me a message.