I was never one of those people who liked exercise. Couldn't find the time, didn't like pain, didn't like to sweat. No aerobics or yoga for me! No sir! The only exercise I was interested in was Zen exercise. (That's where you sit and contemplate the idea of exercise.) And to be honest, for quite a few years, I didn't need to. I was always "tall and thin". Not too tall, I'm only 5' 7" but I've always been thin.
Then came the year 2000. I turned 30-something that year and low and behold, literally overnight, like a biological hostile take-over, the body I'm living in is no longer familiar to me. In a relatively short time span I steadily gained weight. About 55 lbs of weight. It was February of 2003 before I got scared and did something about it and by October of that year, I had lost the 55 lbs and was working out on a regular basis.
So now I work at the health club where get my exercise. I cover the front desk duties during the day shift. 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mostly this means, sitting on my tush, reading a book and checking on the computer screen each time a member of the club comes in. A few other odds and ends, but that's how I spend the majority of my day. After I clock out, I do my workout and go home. Keeping the weight off is not a task that gets easier with the years.
The other thing I do all day is people watch. It's a fascinating pastime. And they talk to me. They're all there for different reasons. Some for rehabilitation, some want to get ready for summer. There are folks who want to feel better, look better or be better. All of varying ages and sizes and degrees of health. And then I realized. We were all chasing the fountain of youth.
I mean, isn't that what we miss about being young? That feeling of health, so basic as to go unnoticed and unappreciated. That irrepressible belief that you are invincible, immortal, immune.
And then I thought about how hard many of these people work to achieve this goal. I thought of my workout routine (recently revamped and re-amped by my sadistic trainer) and the pain and torture I put myself through five days a week. I thought about the red faces, the dripping hair, the looks of sheer exhaustion on people's faces when they leave.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we're all blind. Maybe we're not chasing the fountain of youth. Maybe we're all just a bunch of middle-class, suburbanite closet masochists expressing those tendencies in a socially appropriate way.
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4 comments:
I would work out IF I had someone to go with me. LORD knows I need it. I really can't expect to continue to stay half way healthy if I don't do something about it soon.
My problem is I just won't go alone. It is the one thing in my life that I need a coach/partner with me. I don't know why this is either. I have paid for fitness centers, gone a week or so and just up and quit.
I know I need to lose weight and if I set my mind to it the pounds would melt off. I guess I need my noggin examined first. Must be the Gemini in me...
Someone said youth is wasted on the young. I'll go one step further: I think we all spend our youth like it's a credit card, and by the time we realize we have to start making the payments, we've irredeemably ruined our credit rating and can't get any more.
Your perspective seems jaded by the fact that you’re seeing the pain of exercise more than the reward. It’s how they feel overall, usually a better mood, better health, compared to not working out. Your seeing the hard part, and not the benefits they enjoy from it. Maybe? Ya think? Could be, right?
Well, Prince, I DO see the benefits, both in myself and in others. I know I feel better about myself after working out. Better than when I don't. But you have to understand that I have a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor. This was an attempt at HUMOR. I also love playing the devil's advocate.
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