February 9: Perspective

February 9: Perspective

                Last night's temperature forecast for this morning, eight degrees, sounded incredibly cold and caused me to shift into "Maybe I don't want to go to the Y tomorrow" mode.  I'd had a few excellent workouts yesterday and eaten right on target – I deserved the rest.

                This morning, eight degrees sounded even colder, especially from my cozy warm bed at five in the morning.  But I read somewhere that if you're awake for fifteen minutes you should get out of bed.  Also, last night I caught a snippet of Jillian Michaels saying, "If you feel like the underdog, then show up!"  Since I didn't fall back to sleep, I got out of bed and got ready for the Y.

                As it turns out, according to my trusty old van anyway, the temperature wasn't merely eight degrees: it was a balmy eleven degrees!  Nonetheless my hands were cold – my everything was cold!  I even had to pull over once to scrape a second coating of frost from my very old van's windshield.

                When I left the Y about an hour later, eleven degrees felt blessedly refreshing.  Why?  I went into the Y with a goal, and I achieved that goal.  Not only had I overcome the temptation to skip the Y, but I'd worked hard, found a lucky penny on the cross trainer (and left it there for the next person), and received compliments from two fellow exercisers!   As Ric Flair would say, "Woooo!"

                So: eleven degrees can be too cold or just right; I can be obese or making progress; exercise and eating right can be chores or blessings.  It's up to me.

~Karin