Fitness and the Such

It’s really easy to stay healthy when things are going well. But what happens when things (either work or personal life or both) are a hot mess?  That’s when everything else is a hot mess and you start to feel your downward spiral.  Luckily, before I spiraled too far down, my vacation hit, so that’s where I’m at right now.  For a later post- the necessity of vacation and recharge (she writes, as she is happily recharging on the French Riviera, visiting her favorite grandfather), but for now, I was thinking about fitness.  Or my lack thereof.

I want to be able to dance like a crazy woman until I’m 95 (or basically until I die), and I want the option to open a yoga studio with my roommate should I be in need of a good business and some cash (pretty lucrative business if you do it right, I’m telling you).  Yesterday, I went out with my grandfather and his lady friend and he was twirling the both of us around like it was 1945.  That needs to be me.  I want to make sure that’s me when I get to be 84.

I’m really good at having a good fitness routine when my life is calm.  Which is about 2 months out of the year.  Most of the time the shit is hitting the fan and I’m just trying to get to the next day without the entire business imploding.  (Not really, but most of the time it feels that way- I’m working on that too).

I’m currently reading the book Thrive, by Arianna Huffington. It’s not exactly a, I can’t put this book down sort of read, but I don’t think it was meant to be that way.  It’s about how we can redefine success and make sure we are not only successful in the professional realm, but we are also healthy and happy to boot.  Good vacation reading at least.

I think that if I can squeeze about 30 minutes of exercise in every day, and eat 2 meals at home, I will be a happy camper.  The goal is to achieve that runners high, because that high takes me through to the next day, and it helps me perform at my best.  And that is key in my line of work.

One of my main challenges is to distinguish exercise from my creative time.  Let me rephrase that.  I believe that the higher up you rise in an organization, the more white space you need to think and be creative.  For me, that happens when I’m moving (or for Arianna Huffington, while she hikes).  Again, this deserves it’s own post (in due time), but the bigger our organization grows, the more creative time I need to plan what’s next for our company.  That being said, I usually conflate exercise time and creative time (because the actions are usually the same).  Which means that I usually end up getting lots of good ideas, but not enough runners high.  Le sigh.  So to fix that, I’m going to differentiate the two from now on, and schedule them as such. Lucky for me, I now have moved within walking distance to both the gym and a yoga studio, so that should be doable.  (Yes, that was my criteria for moving into a new apartment- proximity to gyms and/or decent exercise facilities).

I think I’m going to have to have some creative time in the morning, and fitness time in the evening.  I think that’s how I’m going to break down the day when I get back.  At least that’s the way I’m going to try and do it.  Lets see how that works.  When I get back to Bangalore.

But in the meantime, I get to do a lot of beach swimming, reading, walking, and general doing nothing-ness. It’s pretty great.  I cannot complain.

Lots of love from Menton