New Things

We should all be open to doing, thinking, seeing, and eating new things.  When you are, life can sometimes be very interesting and fun and you have the chance to discover new enjoyments and loves you would have never found other wise.  With food, for instance, always try anything and everything offered to you at least once and if you don't like something, try it again anyway every so often.  This philosophy allowed me to discover my love of Thai and sushi, as well as to discover, to my surprise, that my once utter hatred of cottage cheese and yogurt are gone.  I now eat both regularly for breakfast.

Anyway, on Monday, a friend of mine that works on my same floor came to my desk and very matter-of-factually told me that I was to go downstairs with her right then and sign up for the gym (we have an incredibly nice one here at work).  This friend has been trying to get me to work out with her for weeks and has been worried about me with my health issues and I have come up with some excuse every time.  She decided it would be easier to simply not give me the chance.  Keeping an open mind, and relying on my philosophy, I said, "Yes, ma'am." and went along.  I had the idea in my head that maybe I could go down and grab the form and come back to my desk and conveniently forget to fill it out.  Too bad she thought of that too.  She made me fill it out right there in front of her.  Hmmmm, okay, well I can just not use it right?  Yeah, no.  I get back to my desk and shortly start receiving appointments for classes.  She signed me up for a class almost everyday.  Sigh.  I have not been successful in motivating myself and here's a good friend, in my face, willing to do so for me, so I better just suck it up and go.  I need the support and motivation.

The first class she takes me to was that very same day.  These classes are specifically designed for people to be able to get to them on their breaks and to get as much out of them as possible.  Each one is only 15 minutes.  She takes me to Core class.  Core works your torso and all the key muscles there in.  It started out simple and easy, be on all fours and slightly lift one hand at a time, then one knee at a time, but you must do so without moving or shifting your torso.  Seems simple.  Then the instructor starts adding more complicated things.  By the end of that 15 minutes I was sweating like a pig and my whole body was shaking and I never left my hands and knees except for a few things she had us do on our backs.  By the end of the day all the main muscles in my stomach and sides were killing me.  Did you know you use muscles in your sides to open doors?  Did you know that a lot of the doors in our building are heavy?

Tuesday, my friend takes me and another friend down to do some cardio on our own.  We did five minutes each on the treadmill, elliptical, and bikes.  I came back upstairs and very sarcastically started telling a few people she was a very mean taskmaster and she was forcing me to hurt myself.   My friend knew I was kidding, everyone else knew I was kidding.  Apparently my boss didn't think I was.

I came in to work Wednesday morning and found out from the huz that my boss very rudely went to this friend and came down on her for not giving me a choice and how dare she force me to do all this, and on and on.  Oh man.  I was so embarrassed.  I don't know what to say to my boss.  At any point, even when my friend very first came to my desk, I could have said no and she would have dropped the matter.  I know I need this and I know this is the only way I'll be able to get myself to do it.  My friend and I went down on first break just to do some stretches and I talked to her about it.  I felt so bad.  She was very understanding and all is well.  She was worried about coming to me about it and so went to Andy instead.  I have been making offhand comments to my boss all day about how good it all is and how I'm very glad my friend helped me get started, but I just don't know how to flat out tell her that she shouldn't have done that.  I feel it was out of line.  I'll have to think on that one.

Anyway, I was signed up for a class yesterday called a circuit class.  My friend had to leave early and I debated about not going, but I surprised even myself and went alone.  I'm very proud of myself.  There are lots of weight machines in our gym and the instructor designates which ones to use (she changes which ones from time to time I guess) and then starts her timer and tells you when to switch every 30 seconds for almost 15 minutes.  30 seconds on each machine doesn't sound like a lot right?  After using all 10 machines, I felt like every single muscle in my body had been used.  What's nice, tho, is I didn't feel abused by any given machine because I wasn't on it long.  I actually enjoyed it even!  She then took us thru some stretches and we were done.

Today, I don't have any workout appointments, but I have a feeling this friend of mine will "make" me do more cardio. I'll let you know.  I have a yoga appointment tomorrow and am actually looking forward to it.

Welcome to my new life I guess.  Can't wait til I see some results!