When my kids were small I usually walked them to school. It was sometimes a hassle to get three people with ADHD out the door on time but I really liked that I had some exercise built into my day AND that there could be a clear end to the ‘home’ part of my morning and a clear start for my work day.
Now my morning commute is from my breakfast table to my desk upstairs and lately I have found myself wishing for an office a little ways from my house.
Not that I need a separate workspace, what I want is a reason to get moving for a fixed period of time each morning before settling into my workday.
I don’t really need a separate workspace to accomplish that, do I?
I just need to pick a physical activity to represent my morning commute, do it for a fixed amount of time, and then start my workday immediately after that.
But, as always when working around my ADHD, I need to be careful about how I add something into my day. I can’t add something too long or something with a lot of potential for distraction or anything that will complicate my mornings too much.
All of those things are just as likely to wreak havoc on my schedule as they are to help me shape it.
This is partially why the idea of a separate workspace has appeal – I could convince myself that I HAD to walk to get there – but, realistically, I would never actually waste money/time/space to rent a workspace just to make myself get moving.
So, I am experimenting with an alternative approach – getting all of my personal/home morning stuff done and then either taking a 5-10 minute walk “to work” before settling in for my first task of the day.
I imagine myself walking briskly but in reality I would probably look more like this, trundling along in my comfy clothes. Image description: a GIF of a small child in a fluffy coat and pink leggings walking in a bouncy way away from the camera down a sidewalk.
That might mean walking outside (possibly with the dog but I’m not sure I want to train her to expect a walk at that time) or it may mean an indoor walk of some kind but, either way, I will be ending that walk at my desk with a clear plan for my first task of the day.*
In fact, I started writing this post on Monday morning after a brisk, 5 minute walk next to my desk and it felt pretty good.
Updates as events warrant!
*This is a separate part of my plan to make the start of my work days easier – getting a bit more detailed with my task planning. My right-now brain hates breaking stuff down but my future brain loves when it has been done.
I don’t call my January efforts “resolutions.” But I do have a sense of January as a fresh page, full of possibility. And I work that sense to my advantage, feeling newly motivated on January 1st when it comes to starting new routines. Shortly into December I embarked on a 10-week commitment to Caroline Girvan’s first EPIC program.
When I last blogged about it I was just into week three and feeling enthusiastic enough to pack some dumbbells so I could continue the program through the holidays at my parents’ house. At five workouts a week, the EPIC program is not what I would call a small commitment. Most of the workouts are 45-60 minutes, with a shorter (30-minute) HIIT on Sundays. The schedule of workouts every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday for ten weeks establishes an intensive enough routine for anyone who is sticking to it (as I have been).
Image description: EPIC schedule, a grid with ten weeks, seven days each week, each day with a short description of the workout (e.g. dumbbell full body). Stickers with check marks are on the completed workouts.
I got a little bit nervous as January approached because I always do Yoga with Adriene in January. For anyone unfamiliar with Adriene, every January she does a full month of new content for 30 days. Each day builds on the one before, and it is truly something wonderful. This year, I signed up for her FLOW series, not without a little trepidation about how I was going to fit in five EPIC workouts a week and daily YWA. I got to ease into it with a slightly longer holiday break this year that gave me quite a bit of freedom through the first week of January.
My morning routine starts with the cats (feeding them then playing for a bit), then meditation, then 15 minutes of writing, then yoga. If I can get that all in before breakfast, I’m a happy lark. I put the EPIC workouts later in the day, either right before lunch or right before dinner. As it turns out, this schedule sustained me through the entire month of January, even after work started. Even during weeks where I had an endless list of things to do. After a period of time, instead of trying to firgure out how to fit my workouts into my day, I structured my days around my workouts. It’s a subtle difference but it makes a difference.
The only day I forgot to do yoga was last Saturday when I was so fixated on the vegan potluck at Sam’s that I literally didn’t think of yoga (to be fair, I did do the one-hour EPIC workout that had been scheduled for the Friday but I was too exhausted to do on Friday. That change probably contributed to me forgetting to do the yoga later as much as the donuts).
Image description: Portion of a 30 day calendar that says “FLOW A 30 DAY YOGA JOURNEY” and “JANUARY 2024” at the top and has each day, the name of the session, and the time (e.g. Day 2, NOTICE, 22 mins). Checkmarks for each completed day.
For EPIC, I add a green sticker every time I finish a workout. Watching the stickers add up over the past eight and a half weeks has kept me going on days when I didn’t feel like it. It also helped me know where I was if I took an extra rest day. I modified the weeks a few times, taking rest on Wednesday instead of Thursday, or on Friday instead of Saturday.
Considering just how unmotivated I was until mid-December, it is truly remarkable to me how easily I managed to establish and stick to my routine. Sometimes it’s just a matter of timing. If I truly feel as if “enough’s enough!” I can pull myself out of my malaise for an enthusiastic few days. But what’s challenging is the long game. This time, between choosing well (I love both programs), printing out the schedules, marking off completed workouts, and also making a solid commitment, I stuck it out.
That said, I took a day off yoga on Thursday, and I think I will take a week of rest after I finish EPIC and before I begin the next round of ten-weeks: EPIC II. I don’t see a short break in routine as a problem–but I am finding great satisfaction in the momentum I’ve built up.
My next challenge will be to get walking and eventually running again three times a week. I haven’t found the winter weather to be particularly inspiring this year, though as a Canadian I know well that if I dress for it I always feel good once I’m out there.
How did your January routines go? Will they sustain you through another month (or two?)?
I blog here about the new things I try: dark dancing, night kayaking, fun running in the snow to name a few. While I am usually up to trying new things, on some level it’s because I struggle to continue with old things. I’ve tried to form fitness habits, but I have been unsuccessful. I think I tend to see routine as boring or likely to leave me in a rut.
One blogger describes habits or routine as a day-to-day extension of our traditions: something we do day in, day out. When our habits become routine, we may not even give them much thought. But positive habits can foster creative thinking, says another: if I have a gym habit, the question is not “am I going to the gym” but rather “what will I do when I am at the gym.”
When does a habit become a rut? Ruts come about through repetition. In winter, me and my Canadian friends get their cars stuck in grooves or tracks of snow we call ruts. A rut in one’s life suggests a negative habit: a pattern of complacency, mindlessness, or something hard to change. (This blogger, however, does take a positive view of ruts when it comes to turtles.)
How can habits not become ruts but still stay as positive habits? The internet has more thoughts about this. One blogger suggests that habits get people to show up for things, while practice gets them to seek improvement. Practice also suggests that adjustments are needed because each day is different. Practice, unlike habit, is supposed to be mindful.
Another blogger suggests that habits can be positive when we think of them as ritual: they take on a personal or symbolic meaning, (beyond the instrumental) that is life affirming or enhancing.
Looking at these different concepts together, I can see why my friend describes her regular yoga-going not as a habit but as a practice (something she adjusts to her needs each time) as well as a ritual (something that is restorative and joyful after a busy, stressful week).
How might all this help me with my habit-less-ness? Perhaps I could focus more on activities that I can easily adjust based on my feelings and that bring me joy. Focusing on practice and ritual, rather than on habit formation itself, is how I might cultivate positive routines that I can look forward to and maintain.
What are your fitness activities: a rut, a habit or routine, a practice, a ritual, or some combination?
Well, after a summer whizzing across the continent, I have settled back into home. I came home to a new job that was waiting for me and for the last three weeks, I have been the Program Assistant in the Department of French Studies at Western University. This has me speaking French daily, after not having spoken it for more than 20 years, and also has me tied to a rigid work schedule. Add to that my youngest son starting highschool and my husband being away for a week at a conference, and it’s been an intense time. When it comes to my relationship with fitness, I have some mixed feelings. I have a gripe and a satisfying observation.
The Gripe: Of course, all this new-ness and intensity has left me precious little time for exercise. I’m innately intimidated by exercise at the best of times, but what is it that makes it so easy for women to put our needs last? Ok. So I have a degree in Gender Studies – honestly I have a good idea of gender dynamics, especially in families. I just wish that understanding could help me influence my own actions a little more. Truthfully, I have had to focus on settling into my new routine. I have the aquafit schedule on my desk now. The time to swim is coming. But for now, it’s aggravating me.
The Positive: So despite this complaint, I DO have something positive to say about my fitness. It’s not exactly an exercise routine, but I can tell that going up the 110 stairs (I counted!) from the parking lot to my office every morning is helping my fitness levels. When I started on Sept. 1st, I went up the stairs slowly and pretty huff-y and puff-y. The past week, I’ve noticed that I just walk up them now, one foot after the other. It might sound small, but to me it’s actually BIG. Something I’ve never experienced before. Cheers to me!
A few months back, Sam posted a link to a long-ago post she wrote, explaining that if you hate exercise, you might simply be really out of shape. The upshot of that was you just need to do small things. Well my friends, I used to hate exercise, and I think this is a bit part of my story. So I really need to celebrate these small victories.
Here is me drinking from my new Arts and Humanities mug, modeling my welcome touque!
I’m also, on principle, trying to notice my blessings even (especially) when I feel intimidated, disappointed or otherwise down. Schlepping up these stairs every morning, I have often thought of Sam and her recent knee surgery. I have also thought of myself, prior to my own hip surgeries (2021, 2019), and how the stairs would have been so painful. So, the stairs may be long in the AM, they may be no fun, but dang, I’m sure glad I can walk them.
What are your thoughts on this? Have you climbed your own staircase? Struggled with family and your own exercise needs? Where did it lead you? In this time of transition in my life, I’m looking for inspiration and I guess advice.
