By 7pm this evening I was giddy as a gumdrop and high on life (I don’t know how a gumdrop can be giddy, but I like the alliteration). I had finished a project that I had begun working on when I should have been working on two or three other things; what can I say? I’m a productive procrastinator – but not for long! Anyway, by 7pm I was simply gleeful, right? But I still had to work out. No problem. There was still a little light in the sky so I figured I had time. I farted around some until – oh look! it’s 7:30p – better get out there! A few minutes time had me dressed in funky old work out clothes and out the door to discover it was drizzling. No matter, I was determined to kick rocks. Then it got dark – like, dark and gloomy – which meant I had to hit the gym. I can’t stand the gym! I’m still upset with myself for signing up for membership! Nevertheless I deluded myself with some distracted thoughts and found myself there in no time. Once I had a stretch or two under my belt, I hit the treadmill. My mission: 5.4 miles. It wasn’t as bad as you may think.
However, one thing I happened to notice was how everyone was hooked up to their Ipods, eyes glued to a television screen or a magazine/newspaper page. Don’t get me wrong, I would have been hooked up too if my Ipod weren’t DEAD right now. It’s saddening, but I haven’t mourned as deeply as I thought I would have. Of course, my biggest fear was being able to continue to work out without driving rhythms and fleeting melodies pushing me along. Lucky for me, the treadmills at the gym have TVs in them! They’re all high tech and fancy, showing you different views of your progress and whatnot, BESIDES a variety of cable television channels. I never would have guessed the tv was in the machine had I not looked over at my neighbors machine to see how fast she was going, and if I could go faster. Imagine my surprise when I discovered this treasure. Now, imagine my surprise when moments later (literally less than a mile) I was repulsed by it. What the heck? I’m not trying to watch tv and work out, I’m trying to reach a goal! Yes, ideally the goal will fly by if I’m distracted by something wonderful, but that’s not the point. Sometimes, it’s good to focus – especially when you work out. I like my Ipod when I work out so I can’t hear my breathing which often freaks me out into quitting before I really need to. But today, when I was going full stride in the middle of my third mile, the running itself became a trance. It was like, nothing was there; just my reflection in the glass bouncing up and down rhythmically. It was really quite pleasurable. In a world where everyone’s hooked up to something, maybe we should stop and think and focus on what we’re distracting ourselves from. You never know what we could be missing…
1 comment:
i feel u on this one big time. once when i couldn't find ipod, i drove my hr to and from work without any noise or distraction and found it amazing how nice is can be sometimes to just be at peace with my thoughts and really reflect on some things. since then i make it a point to ride along without music once a week and work some things out. still, when i work out i feel my musical choices help me to push myself harder and i love that!
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