I’m reading “What I talk about when I talk about running” by Haruki Murakami at the moment, and I’m finding it a good motivation- both in terms of exercise and writing.
So far two particular things have struck me:
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional
In terms of exercising, it makes sense, just to choose to work through it. Not to suffer. It strikes a chord, that we choose how badly to take things, how much to let it affect us. When I am exercising, and it is hard, and I want to stop, I must choose not to find it so hard. I must choose to carry on. I must choose not to suffer.
And this passage:
Having the kind of body that easily puts on weight was perhaps a blessing in disguise. In other words, if i don’t want to gain weight I have to work out hard every day, watch what I eat, and cut down on indulgences. Life can be tough, but as long as you don’t stint on the effort, your metabolism will greatly improve with these habits, and you’ll end up much healthier, not to mention stronger. To a certain extent, you can even slow down the effects of aging. but people who naturally keep the weight off no matter what don’t need to exercise or watch their diet in order to stay trim. There can’t be many of them who would go out of their way to take these troublesome measures when they don’t need to. Which is why, in many cases, their physical strength deteriorates as they age. If you don’t exercise, your muscles will naturally weaken, as will your bones. Some of my readers may be the kind of people who easily gain weight, the only way to understand what’s really fair is to take a long-range view of things. For the reasons I give above, I think this physical nuisance should be viewed in a positive way, as a blessing. We should consider ourselves lucky that the red light is clearly visible.
You could give in to cynicism, and mutter something about how yeah, you can put a positive spin on anything, if you try. But I think he has a good point. A time will come when regular exercise is necessary, not just for my figure but my health. And I’m best off getting started now, getting a head start. And I’d be lying if I said the idea of feeling like my body is strong and able doesn’t appeal.
So I haven’t started running yet, I’ve been trying to eat better (which is hard, and not going as well as it could) and I’ve been doing the cross trainer, and other exercise, pretty regularly. I will start running, and the Murakami book is helping, but I’m trying to get myself a little fitter first, and hopefully someone else to run with at first.
I need to get my sleep sorted out as well, I’m going to bed past midnight most nights, getting up too late, rushing, and then having a nap when I get home, and then going to bed too late. I call it the vicious nap cycle.
