So while physio pretty much always begins with painful mobility work, it doesn’t always end that way. Sometimes it ends with dancing to Lizzo.
I was thinking about physio the other day and how I keep going back even though it’s pretty tough going. Lately we’ve been working on leg extension and getting my leg to lay straight. The physiotherapist straps my leg to her table and works on mobilizing the knee cap by pushing it down. At first it doesn’t hurt that much and then it really hurts and then we stop.
After that, it’s over to the gym area for feats of strength and balance. That’s the fun part of physio. We began with pulling a weighted sled backwards. That backwards motion requires full leg extension. After the we moved on to balancing on a bosu ball. You might know how this goes. You start out with both legs on the ball, and then one. Or you start with eyes open and then move to closed. Sometimes Estee the physiotherapist tries to gently push me off the ball.
Last time I was there the physiotherapist one station over was blasting Lizzo and I started bosu ball dancing. The next thing you know we were both dancing. It was fun and a good reminder that physio isn’t all suffering. It also makes sense that Estee ends with the fun stuff.
Since knee replacement surgery five months ago, I’ve been riding on the trainer. That’s true. First my goal was a full rotation of the pedals. I could do that backwards first, then forwards. Then I got my seat back to its regular height. (It’s easier backwards and easier with the seat elevated.) Next up were some distance goals. I rode my bike on the trainer 20 km the other day for the first time.
But I’ve been nervous about riding outside. I had hoped to try it with my Brompton outside late this fall but our roads have been a mess of ice. There hasn’t been any good weather for outdoor riding for someone as nervous about slipping and falling as I am right now.
My right knee is giving me issues now too. In the end I said no to the big Cuba trip I was hoping to do. Bah, but it was the right choice. Next year, I hope after I’ve recovered from right knee surgery.
Now as you might know I’m in Arizona for the Workshop in Normative Ethics. And Sarah came with for some sunshine and we brought our road bikes. Best yet, Air Canada didn’t lose them. Sarah assembled the bikes (and worked and rode horses!) while I was conferencing and today was the first time I was able to get out for a ride.
We’ve had our eyes on the Tucson Loop, a 130 mile bike path that circles the city.
Love the Loop
Obviously, 130 miles is too too much, even at the best of times, and these aren’t those. So, what section to do? We’re close to Oro Valley and the Catalina State Park so we set off to ride around there. We took the bikes in the rental SUV and off we went.
I was VERY NERVOUS.
I keep hearing from friends whose parents had knee replacement and who would never ride long distances again. I have another friend who can still ride her bike but gave up on clip in pedals. Another friend’s mother struggles to get on the bike and can’t swing her leg over the frame. I had all these stories running through my head.
I knew I’d be slow. I’ve been slow on the trainer as I struggle to get my cadence back up but that feels like I thing I can work on. It’s the mechanics of it all that had me worried.
I kept reminding myself that I was struggling to walk and dealing with more knee pain than now when I did the Toronto to Montreal, 660 km, bike ride. This isn’t new even though I haven’t ridden in four months.
First, I noodled around the hotel parking lot making sure the seat height was correct and it all seemed fine. And then we set off to find the trail.
There was a lot of sunshine this afternoon–love the desert weather, cold nights and high teens by the middle of the day, perfect for riding. The loop seems well used by locals and visitors. We even gave directions to some cyclists from Montana.
My knee held out okay and while there was some fussing clipping in and out that too was fine. We stopped for a quick patio lunch after about 10 km and then rode another 10 km or so after.
Here’s some photos from our ride:
Sam and Sarah riding in the sunshineRoadrunner!Fun desert vegetationSam on the Tucson Loop trailSam and Sarah saguaro selfie
We had a giant snowstorm here yesterday, around 50 cm/20 inches, and as I looked out at the snow this morning, I was reminded of one of my favourite writing analogies and I realized that the analogy works just as well for habit-building as it does for writing.
Lots of times when people want to start writing, or revising, they get caught up in trying to do the whole thing at once. I mean, if we stopped to think about it, we’d know it’s impossible but mostly we don’t even realize what we are trying to do.
So, when I realize that I am making that mistake with my writing (or that my client/student is making it) I compare the process to having a driveway full of snow and expecting to be able to shovel it all at once. (If the person hasn’t had that experience, I compare it to having a huge pile of laundry to fold,)
I think we often do that ‘try to do it all at once’ thing for habit building, too. We may not realize that we are trying to develop the whole habit in one go but if we are overloading ourselves with exercises, putting a lot of pressure on ourselves, or hoping for immediate results, we are probably falling into that trap.
If you look at a driveway full of snow (or a huge pile of clean laundry), you know very well that you can’t just clear it all away at once. And you know that you can’t dig out the front steps at the same time as you are digging the bottom of your driveway. You have to choose a place to start and clear it away one shovelful at a time until it is done.
If you are trying to build a habit (or if you are planning to write or to revise something), it’s like having that driveway full of snow. You aren’t going to be able to just do all of it at once, you have to pick a place to start and keep plugging away at it until it is done.
In your driveway, you might use a shovel, you might use a scoop, you might use a snowblower, or you might use a plow on the front of your vehicle. But, no matter what tools you use, you still have to do a series of repeated actions to get that driveway cleared.
With a habit, you might start daily, you might start weekly, you might start small, you may start big, but you will have to choose where/how to start and keep plugging away at it until you get your habit established.
If you have to get your car out quickly to get somewhere, you might not shovel a path from the car to the house, you might just clear the car’s windshield and shovel out behind the car and drive off, leaving the rest of the shovelling for later.
Similarly, if you quickly need something specific from your habit, you can start with the tasks that are most closely related to it. For example, if you are trying to improve your overall fitness but also you have a lot of back pain – your habit might start with emphasizing stretches for your back or with focusing on strengthening your core muscles. Or if you are finding that racing thoughts make it hard to fall asleep, the first part of building your meditation habit might focus on pre-bed relaxation practices.
Meanwhile, if you have no idea where to start with your driveway or with your writing or with your habit, it’s ok to start anywhere and just keep doing a shovelful at a time.
The driveway will get done, no matter where you start.
The thing will get written, no matter where you start.
And, if you are trying to build a habit and you return to it a metaphorical shovelful at a time, over and over, you will create the habit you want to create – no matter where you start with it.
I wish you ease with your habit-building, your writing, and with any snow-shovelling or laundry folding you need to do.
Here are your gold stars for your efforts today, whether they are small or large, whether they are a fresh start or part of the momentum you are building, or whether you are just trying to be kind to yourself while you figure out where you put your shovel.
A drawing of three gold stars atop rectangular stands (one short red, one taller green, and one royal med-height blue, with black pinstripes on each), the edges of the drawing are decorated with tiny gold dots.
I don’t know about you, dear readers, but I’m just now realizing that Valentine’s Day is nearly upon us. As of this writing it’s a mere 23 days away (22 as you read these words). You may be wondering:
Exactly what is your point here?
Well, once I’ve waded through the New Years’ Challenge mania, my fancy turns to sweeter goals and pastimes. Yes, I’m talking about rekindling feelings that may have dimmed, but not gone out entirely. Feelings for:
Swimming
weight training
in-person yoga classes
dance-y style exercise classes
A couple of years ago, I wrote a post, To all the sports I’ve loved before. I was waxing nostalgic for a few sports I’d dabbled in but never committed to. Would I ever revisit them? Never say never, but I’m unlikely to start fencing or doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at this point in my physical activity trajectory. Scuba is something I hope to try again, given the right conditions (warm blue water with very pretty fish of many colors nearby).
However, the list above reflects a desire to get out of my rut of doing some yoga at home, some other movement classes on youtube and walking as primary exercise. I’ve not been feeling very motivated or energetic, and novelty always provides a bit of a kickstart. What I need is something to get my attention focused, my heart racing, my pulse quickening. I need a new exercise love. Or loves.
I can do all of these things if I go ahead and join that gym I’ve been talking about for awhile now. Yes, I’ve been dragging my feet. But getting out of the house and into the locker room may be just what the doctor ordered.
Well, maybe not tomorrow, but certainly this week, I’m going to check out the place and will join if it’s not terrible. Okay?
i’ll report back later this week on progress.
Readers, what do you do when you’re yearning for a little something-extra, something-novel in your movement regimen? Do you try out some new activity? Or is a change of venue the solution to your exercise ennui? I welcome any suggestions.
Would changing a few things about your environment or your approach make it easier for you to build the habits you are trying to build?
Could you enhance your exercise or meditation space to make it more appealing?
Could you move things around to make your practice feel more accessible?
Is there anything you can change about the details of your tasks that will make them more fun or at least less annoying?
Let me give you some examples.
Today, I’m moving my rowing machine up into my living room.
Up until now, it has been in the basement which was perfectly fine until I started decluttering. My decluttering project has many stages and some of those stages take a week or more so there is stuff lying around partially sorted or half organized. And the thought of using my rowing machine amid that chaos has kept me from using it regularly.
I want to use my rowing machine but I know I can’t speed up the decluttering, so the machine has gotta move.*
Years ago, when I first tried strength training, I realized that I found it irritating to count up my reps. I wasn’t sure what bugged me about it at the time so I started experimenting with different methods of keeping track and I found out that using short periods of time (Do squats for 30 seconds) helped, saying letters instead of numbers (Why do I not mind doing H bicep curls but doing 8 is annoying? Who knows?), or simply counting down instead were all better than counting up.
Moving my rowing machine, changing how I track reps, using a small gardener’s mat for extra knee padding during certain yoga poses, putting a blanket in the spot where I meditate, lighting a candle when I write in my journal, using a textured sticker to focus on mindful breathing, all of these tweaks make it easier for me to do the things I want and need to do to build and maintain my habits
Yes, I know that some of these things might seem silly or weird.
Maybe they seem like hardly worth doing, like something I should be able to just ignore or just push past.
But I’m not out to prove anything here, I just want a straightforward path to doing the things I want to do?
Why add extra static to a task that already requires a fair bit of physical and emotional energy?
Why not make things easier on myself?
By tweaking the details of my environment and my approach, I remove a whole set of obstacles from between me and my tasks.
Removing those obstacles makes it more likely that I will be able to follow through on my plans.
So, Team, I’m wondering if you can give yourself permission to do similar things for yourself?
To reiterate the questions I asked at the beginning of this post…
Is there anything about where you exercise or meditate or journal or rest that might improve that space?
Is there anything about *how* you approach or undertake your tasks that you can tweak to make things easier?
Your obstacles may not be obvious at first. You may have to poke around in your reluctance a little to see what’s bugging you (it took me a while to realize that the mess of the decluttering process was interfering with my rowing) but it will be worth it to figure it out and experiment with how to make things better.
Whether your routines, systems and tasks are unfolding smoothly or whether they need a few tweaks, I wish you ease and self-kindness today and always.
Here’s your gold star for today’s efforts, no matter what they are:
A drawing of a red balloon decorated with a gold star and gold dots. The balloon is on a string and is floating up from the bottom of the drawing. The background of the image is white with gold horizontal pinstripes.
*Luckily, it’s not a very fancy rowing machine so it’s pretty compact and the long part folds upward when I remove a pin so it won’t take up all the space in my living room.
I didn’t realize how bad last January was until I read last year’s January check in post. Sometimes I even forget that we had a stint of remote teaching and work from home last January.
This January, things are looking up. I’m writing this from the Workshop in Normative Ethics in Tucson, Arizona. It’s a terrific conference which brings junior and senior philosophers together for a weekend in the desert. It’s very nice to be back together in person again.
What’s so good about this conference? Deliberately the feedback is constructive and the papers are improved and published in a volume of Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics. In general there’s a lovely engaged atmosphere, lots of conversation, and very nice people.
I got to meet a few graduate students who are interested in my work and that’s always lovely too.
When you’re not listening to papers, there’s nearby hiking and other options too. This year Sarah is going for a horseback ride.
Yesterday my knee was even feeling good enough for an after lunch hike. Yes, it’s true. Aging joints like the desert.
Here’s some photos.
Sam and Sarah and a giant cactusHiking trail around the hotelSam and a fuzzy cactusView from the conference roomDon’t lose your name tag!Good morning desert
So for me this January is looking up. After the conference we’ll even see if I remember to ride my bike outdoors.
All of my advice so far has been about taking small steps, keeping an even pace and being prepared to start over and over while building your habits.
All of that advice is comes from a combination of science and personal/coaching experience.
The slow and steady approach works most often.
That being said, I have also had some success with starting big – as long as the big start was for a short time frame.
So, if a small start isn’t doing it for you, maybe you might enjoy trying the other extreme and going big at first and slowing down afterwards.
This might look like a 5 day challenge to do something for an hour a day, or it might look like committing to a month of daily journaling, or it might be a long hike every weekend for three weekends in a row.
Because these bigger projects are short term, yoI can probably temporarily rearrange your life to accommodate them.
The key here is to recognize that the point of these short-term-go-big challenges is to give you a jump start, a big win that can set you on the path to developing a more sustainable habit that will work better with your day-to-day.
A short term intense start can give you lots of good information for moving forward. It can show you the parts you like or don’t like about your planned habit. It can give you a sense of immediate accomplishment. It might even give you a few skills or a boost in wellbeing that can help you move towards making activities like this a part of your regular routine.
As long as you recognize that a big start is only intended to be short term, it can really help.
Unless you are person of leisure or a professional athlete, you probably don’t have the capacity to include those huge tasks every day for the long term. And, in fact, people of leisure and professional athletes can probably only do it because they have a team of professionals supporting them in the process.
Basically, most of us will do best with a small start that builds our habit piece by piece but someone of us will enjoy starting with a big splash.
But no matter which approach you choose, you have to be kind to yourself and try have reasonable expectations about your time, your capacity, and your results.
Here’s your gold star for today’s efforts – big or small.
A drawing of a gold star against a background of large circles, some purple with black speckles, some blue with black pinstripes and some plain blue. The white spaces between the circles are lined with blue pinstripes.
Early in January, blog co founder Tracy Isaacs pulled together a group blog post on our words of the year, those words or phrases which will anchor us in our daily practice. I chose imagine for 2023. I wrote:
for awhile I have felt I’m on the cusp of something. While I’m not sure what it is, I’m letting myself imagine all kinds of possibilities. The questions that guide me are “what if?” and “why not?” I don’t know where this word imagine will take me; however, I believe it will be risky, freeing, exciting, and maybe a little wondrous.
In that vein, when a friend sent round a note suggesting we give Lindy Hop a whirl, I thought why not? Even though I have two left feet, I enjoy dancing. Despite some disastrous events with low-impact aerobics, Zumba, jazzercise, and ballet, I have persisted in exploring choreographed movement that does not involve bathing suits, weights, running, or cycling. And I love swing music so there I went.
ID: A black and white photo shows two people dancing outside. Photo by John Moeses Bauan on Unsplash
Lindy Hop has its origins in Black Harlem beginning in the 1920s. One of the four dances of swing (the others being the Balboa, the Collegiate shag, and the Charleston) the Lindy Hop is all about social connection and consent. If you want to dance, you ask. Once consent is given, you dance.
Lindy Hop has leaders and followers. The follower mirrors the leader’s direction and steps. I definitely fall into the follower camp. I also count and talk to myself while dancing so I can keep my left and right feet moving as they should, which to be honest, they frequently do not.
My first class was this week. It was fun and a wee bit intimidating (remember I have two left feet plus I am right-left dyslexic). Mirroring is a challenge. Lindy hop was also a surprisingly effective workout. I got my steps in, my heart rate up, and I met some lovely new people.
No fancy gear is required. Loose comfortable clothing is recommended along with court shoes. A bottle of water is advisable. With COVID still prevalent, we all wore masks which may have contributed to some of the warmth we felt. The organizers also had lots of hand sanitizer available for when we switched partners. From what I could tell, we were at all levels of experience and ages.
My biggest takeaway was that fitness once again doesn’t have to be about sports. I have written about housework, gardening, and even snow shoveling as fitness activities, but while gardening can be very therapeutic, I can’t say housework or shoveling qualify as fun, which in my opinion Lindy Hop definitely does.
Here’s to more fun in fitness and enjoying all the ways my body can move.
When you are building a habit, you are constantly going back and forth between the big picture (the habit, the system, the goal) and the small picture (the task of the day, the hour, the minute.)
It can be tricky to remember that the task in front of you will add up to the future goal. Conversely, when we are focused on the future goal it can be really frustrating if today’s circumstances require us to change our planned task – it can end up feeling like changing one day’s task will prevent us from ever reaching our goal.
That’s why, today, I’m inviting you to think of the biggest picture, not just the big/small ones.
What’s the biggest picture?
Your sense of wellbeing.
Yep, whether you are doing cardio, yoga, or meditation, whether you are running or writing in your journal, whether you are dancing or taking mindful breaths, the habits you are building are all in service of creating, improving, an expanding your sense of wellbeing.
And that’s good news for every part of your big picture and of your small picture.
It means that the repeated actions that move you toward your goal are part of the biggest picture.
It means that changing today’s task to match today’s circumstances is part of the biggest picture.
It means that anything and everything that improves your sense of well-being can be part of that biggest picture.
You can stick with your plans or you can switch them up and still be moving toward the place you want to go.
Keeping the biggest picture in mind lets you enjoy both today’s victories and the victories that lie ahead.
Recognizing the importance of the biggest picture lets you ‘off the hook’ if your plan was to do some intense HIIT but your body is asking for some yoga.
It also gives you room to be kinder to yourself when you aren’t feeling well. And, with well-being as your ultimate goal, it only makes sense to take a nap to ward off that headache, or to stick to something low-intensity when you have a cold.
Obviously, I believe that habit-building, creating systems, and taking repeated action are useful practices – otherwise I wouldn’t be writing these daily posts.
However, I think it is really important to remember that these practices are not ends in themselves, they are in service of our peace of mind, of strength, of flexibility, AKA – our wellbeing.
So, when it comes to being kind to ourselves in these practices and about the details of these practices, it’s vitally important that we remember the biggest picture and do what we can to stay true to it.
Wishing you ease and wellbeing, Team!
Here’s your gold star for your efforts today:
A drawing of a gold star against a background of thing black lines contained within a bright blue square frame. There are purple dots on the paper surrounding the blue frame.
So you’ve developed a routine. Maybe you haven’t lifted a dumbbell in several years and now you are going to a gym to lift them a few times a week. You enjoy a couple HIIT classes a week and you have taken up a running program. It feels great. You LOVE it. You are sleeping better and your anxiety feels a bit more balanced. You may have muttered the word “endorphins” to your friends one too many times already. You downloaded an app that helps you keep track of your progress.
This morning you woke up with a headache though. You had weird dreams. You questioned whether you should stay in bed and continue cuddling your dog/cat/ferret. You still went to the gym. It felt sluggish in parts. You went down in weight for the rows, instead of maintaining, or going up. You forgot your indoor shoes. You didn’t get the machine you like or the spot on the rig you prefer. You couldn’t get your head in the right place on the bench for the bench press and your elevated lunges were clumsy. Shouldn’t it feel easier now that you have developed a routine?
Yes, some days it will feel easier. Some days will still be a challenge. Some days you’ll feel like a rockstar. Others you’ll wonder if you are an imposter. You’ll have injuries you have to care for and work back from. That’s life. But, the part that gets easier is showing up even on the hard(er) days and making them work. It gets easier to assume fitness will be part of your regular schedule. Whether that means pushing through or taking it easy. Having a routine that becomes part of your regular schedule means learning to listen to your body. It means being patient on the tougher days, and also, relishing the days that feel “easy” and powerful. It means believing there will be good moments on the days that are tough. It also means being kind to yourself if some days it feels like you are faking it.
Having a routine doesn’t mean it’s easier. It just means you know how to ride the waves. Appreciate the overall benefits and patterns. Don’t let a bad day discourage you. Don’t let the ideas of perfection, or that every day will be a kick ass workout, stop you from appreciating the lows and sticking with it for all the fluctuations.
My wish for you is that you enjoy the journey. That you find what works for you and enjoy the ups and downs because, overall, you will LOVE it. (I hope)
If you started a new routine in January and you are wondering when it will feel easy, don’t worry about that. Continue going and assessing and tweaking and before you know it, it will be next January and you have a beloved routine.
Nicole P. loves to workout but also finds moments or days imperfect. It’s part of the deal, in order to enjoy the good moments and overall effects.
