Friday, July 1, 2011

Getting in a Workout. Or Not.

A few years ago I managed to ingrain in myself the idea that I MUST workout 6 days a week, preferably for at least an hour.  Since then I have repeatedly told myself that this is, in fact, NOT true, and I can work out 5 days, or 4 or 3 or even take a week off now and again.  I try not to be compulsive about it.  The way I'm compulsive about, oh, pretty much EVERYTHING.  It's that "worst-case scenario" talent I have.  If I don't exercise today, I'll let it slide tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on until I resemble Jabba the Hut, sitting around on the couch with hot slave girls chained to me.
Of course, that's NOT gonna happen (I am a feminist, after all, and wouldn't dream of demeaning anyone that way!), but, as I said, it's deeply ingrained. As is the idea that 1500 calories /day is an ideal number.  Even with my strides in IE, that dang number is still there.  The fact that I never stop at 1500 has been a niggling source of guilt.
Even though I discovered recently that for my body and lifestyle, 1500 is the MINIMUM amount of calories I need to take in each day.
So what's a girl to do?
KBO, I guess.  In the worlds of Winston Churchill, at least on "Doctor Who."  Keep Buggering On.  Continue to get in touch with how I'm feeling.  Try to figure out what I need when a craving hits and I'm not actually, physically, hungry.
And really, really, REALLY TRULY take a vacation!!!!!!!   Hubby has offered to send me to a spa overnight in wine country.  Why am I not leaping at the offer?!?!?!
Because I'm truly on the verge of total burnout.  Between 3 weeks of one child and then the other on vacation and work and the move, I can feel the boiling point coming.  I'd better do something before I blow!
I believe I've mentioned a colleague who teaches something like 18 classes a week AND has 3 kids, and I wonder how she does it?  Because she takes frequent vacations!  They go skiing in the winter on weekends, visit her family in the summer on the east coast, and generally just take time off.  The result?  She is SANE.
And now that, maybe, we'll actually have a bit of money left over each month after the bills are paid, we can go away now and again.  Do fun stuff.  Not worry about my caloric intake, number of steps taken, or hours worked out.
Basically I need to chill.  All around.  In every way.

So, peace out, dudes!

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