WORKING OUT
I’m prudent with my expenditures. And I’m concerned I may need to disconnect the cable access soon to save money. That would leave me with only a handful of digital channels to choose from — a prospect that leaves me cold. Have you seen what’s available to the general public? A few news channels, public television (I’m grateful for that, at least) and Worship TV. If ever there was an incentive to get my buns off the couch, that would be it.
I won’t join a gym, though. It’s too much money and I know the drill; the first few months I’ll use the facilities like crazy, gradually slacking off until I’m not using them at all. Nor do I have the inclination or discipline for a home-gym. It’s too tempting to do a minimal amount of exercise and then reward myself with a cookie.
I really don’t care for gyms. They have a disagreeable smell that reminds me of old sneakers. And I don’t like having to wipe off the exercise equipment after I use it. I know that’s the polite thing to do, but why should I be polite when the equipment I’ve just used is drippy with sweat from the last impolite person? And usually it was a man. Most women don’t perspire in buckets.
I dislike inevitably comparing myself to others at the gym. While I’m in good shape I’m no Tarzan-Jane who has sleek, rippling abs and taut muscles. Nor do I have big boobs, in which case those other attributes wouldn’t matter.
Ever notice that women weight-lifters have virtually no boobs? I guess their bosoms de-evolved into pectoral muscles — less to get in the way when you are lifting 500 pounds over your head.
When I worked out, it felt like I was auditioning for a part I couldn’t quite get. My clothes were all wrong — my outfit never varied. It consisted of shape-less cotton shorts, knee-high tube socks, and a baggy tee-shirt, with “Have a whale of a supper at Buddy’s Fish House!” written on it.
There’s also an attribute I possess that does not lend itself to “gym” environments — I’m a klutz. In fitness class, I’m moving left when the rest of the class is moving right.
You’d think floor exercises would be safe. And they are for most people. But I’m one of those rare individuals who can fall over from a sitting position. When I’ve done so, I knock down people around me like pins in a bowling alley.
The most klutzy thing I did was the time I was using a machine, one with interchangeable weights. There was a man behind me waiting his turn. He was attractive, in a Conan-the-Barbarian kind of way. When I was done using the machine, I wiped my seat off thoroughly for him. I thoughtfully removed the 15-pound weight from the machine so he could replace it with a heavier one.
I was smiling and zealously trying to establish eye contact. This took my attention off the weight in my hands, which slipped out of my sweaty palms onto Conan’s foot.
He let loose a yell that sounded like Tarzan trying to escape the affections of an amorous Cheetah. Conan limped off. I was still hopeful now I’d gotten his attention, he’d want to get to know me better. But, no luck.
If you're enjoying this over coffee, tea, or whatever, please consider buying me a cup!THREE LESSONS TO FOLLOW YOUR DREAM
“Okay,” you ask, “Once you commit to following your dream, how do you actually do it?”
For me, it was enlisting the creative genius and unwavering drive of my whiny partner. “Oh, that was easy,” you state naively. Au contraire, my misguided friend. Have you even been reading her blogs? If you have, then you realize that getting her onboard was about as easy as herding cats through a ring of fire into a pit of snarling Rottweiler’s!
The key to transforming your dream into reality is being fearless in overcoming anxiety. Both your own, and the anxiety of others.
I had to plant seeds of various kinds into many varieties of soil. Some were fertile. Others were barren. Some from each grew, but most either didn’t germinate or began to sprout only to died on the vine. However, each fledgling plant provided another spark of interest. Lesson 1: Get use to failure.
Failure is different than defeat. Defeat is the cessation of action, the halting of effort, the obliteration of hope, the death of belief, and the burying of your idea. Failure, on the other hand, is only a temporary setback. It always offers results — maybe not the ones you planned, but results nonetheless. All results provide learning. Lesson 2: Learn from your failures.
Ego provides a roadblock to learning. It railroads us into thinking that if something went wrong, the problem MUST reside outside ourselves. That arrogance usually makes us miss the most essential part of our learning. We can only affect things within our control. We cannot control anything outside of ourselves.
In my case, I had to get over my ego screaming, “She just doesn’t get it!” Instead, I had to face up the fact that the image in my mind was inadequately painted through the colors of my explanations to produce a clear picture. Once I realized that, I produced a few tangible visual aids to show exactly what I saw in my mind. The message then started making sense, but it was still fuzzy. The flame of interest was dimly lit, but there was little enthusiasm to stoke it. Lesson 3: Persevere.
So, I started to produce a veritable plethora of visual aids. A bombardment of writings, graphics, and functioning web pages to show that not only is the idea sound, but we possessed the skills to bring it to fruition. That fanned the flame of interest. Her blossoming enthusiasm started to spread like wildfire. The dream grew beyond my own garden and was now a living entity thriving on its own. It still needed to be tended, but now it was nurtured in tandem, with the creative force of another human being. Once life is breathed into anything, it develops a will to survive which is not easily snuffed.
I am no different than you. If I can follow my dream, then you can too. You just have to get use to failure, learn from your failures, and persevere. If you don’t believe me, look at any success story and you will be able to identify these elements on their pages.
If you're enjoying this over coffee, tea, or whatever, please consider buying me a cup!
