Thursday, January 04, 2007

Staying in shape

I ran today for the first time in 7 weeks.

The thing is, I never used to run, but was "forced" to so that I would recover faster from an injury. After 6 weeks of running, it was going great, and actually, I was hating it less than I thought.

Tonight was a different story. The first lap was a piece of cake, but then it started hitting me on the second lap...I was losing my breath. Cramping set in on the third lap. It wasn't so long ago that it didn't even hurt like this on the twelfth lap. How had I fallen so fast so quickly?

Well this may seem like an obvious connection (you get out of shape when you aren't active), it occurred to me that we overlook this phenomenon outside of the wide world of sports.

If I regularly keep my room organized, it stays organized. If I need to use it for something, it's easy. And the cleanup is a snap, because most of the work is already done.

When you sit down and write everyday, it gets easier. The practice makes you better. Your writing muscles stay in shape.

When you keep in touch with friends, it's easier to stay in touch. Feeding it everyday makes for a much healthier relationship than one that gorges itself every few months.

The hardest part is getting your life into shape. After that, happiness is routine.

1 comment:

Ryan Wanger said...

To clarify this idea a bit, I meant to say that when there are things about your life that you need to change, breaking it down into small parts that can become part of your routine is essential. You don't have to start liking working out, but it helps to find a way to build it into your routine so that skipping out is not an option.