Smashing ideas

I have issues with the self-care industry, as I have mentioned over and over.  Please note, this does not mean that I think we should not get massages, get pedicures, or light pretty candles if that’s what blows our skirts up.  The thing is, self-care does not have to take the form of spending money.  Here are five cheap or free real self-care things to do for those times when we need to feel better (and yes, feeling better is the point of all this fitness business.)

1.     Smash the white supremacist heteronormative capitalist imperialist patriarchy.  Okay, so that one might not be something we can finish in an afternoon, but we can start.  We can act out or speak up or both.

2.     Make connections.  Yes, this is just another method of doing that first item.  Separation sells stuff.  It creates war and depression and crime and misery.  Call a friend, make a friend, do a good deed, find a volunteer gig.  It will feel awesome.

3.     Move.  Of course I am in favor of moving.  It’s for good reason.  Moving is what makes our bodies happy and happy bodies help make happy minds.

4.     Have a snack.  Hungry people are rarely cheerful.  An apple or a couple of crackers or a handful of nuts can make the difference between personal Armageddon and all being right with the world.

5.     Take a nap.  Even fifteen minutes of rest can transform our attitudes.

We are all worthwhile humans.  We need to treat ourselves as such.

More change...

Yesterday I wrote about the fact that change is inevitable and about how we can choose some of the direction of our change.  Taking that overarching idea a little farther, we need to consider what we are doing in our workouts, what changes, if any, are resulting from those workouts, and what we might want to change to get the changes we might like better.

If we do the same thing over and over in the gym, we will not get the same results.  We will get progressively fewer gains from the same work as our bodies adapt to what we are doing.  (It is nice to know that there is some wiggle-room in the definition of insanity, though…)  What used to result in weight loss or muscle gain or both now barely helps us maintain our current condition.  This is why we have to change things up.

Change comes in many flavors.  We can switch activities, which will automatically cause us to recruit different muscles and brain cells.  We can increase the speed of what we are doing or the weight of what we’re lifting or the amount of time we work out or the number of repetitions or sets.  All of those things help, but it is also important not to choose the same switch every time.  We need to keep our brains and our bodies just a little off-balance for best results.

Go play.

Fall fall fall

Early in the morning, it’s possible to tell that the season is changing—maybe not so much in the afternoon when it is still so warm out.  It takes a little longer to get light, the morning air is a little crisper, and even my furry alarm clock is likely to sleep past five a.m.  Some of us will rejoice in the change and some not so much.  The thing is that, rejoicing or bewailing notwithstanding, the change is going to happen.

Well, of course it is.  And why do I bother to point this out?  Because it is happening in our bodies, too.  Every day we get up with a changed body.  We are a day older.  We feel the results of how we moved or ate or slept.

We may not have any control over the tilt of the planet, the rotation of the earth, or the revolutions of heavenly bodies, but we can take some measure of control over how our bodies change over time.  None of us are going to manage to stave off aging and death forever, but we can choose to wake up stiff from building muscle mass rather than from building our reputation as a champion binge-watcher.

I am a fan of fall.  To me, it is a season of huge energy as the old stuff withers away and space is created for new growth.  The heat-induced lethargy of summer fades away and I find myself ready for whatever comes.

If change is inevitable, let’s choose how we’re going to direct it!