Seven years ago, back when my blog was just getting underway, I posted a segment entitled Are You At Your Writing Weight? With my current state of affairs, it seems rather appropriate right now. I don’t know about you, but how productive I am – with almost everything I do – is closely tied to how ‘fit” I’m feeling. The same thing is true for how much enjoyment I derive from almost everything else. Coming off months and months of travel involving constantly eating out, endless nights in hotels with limited activity, and stress levels that would make a combat vet raise his (or hers) eyebrows, my weight ballooned thirty pounds over my goal and my overall fitness was poor, to put it mildly. There at the end, I began to experience back problems and the number of “restful” sleep hours I enjoyed nightly shrank considerably.
Now that all that is behind me and I’m trying to recapture my creative drive, I’m finding that I have to take care of the engine first. That’s why I thought about this old post. Competitive athletes rarely maintain their bodies in the same physical state that they do when they are competing, and in that previous post I postulated that the same thing could be said about writers and their cognitive acuity. Intellectually, I feel that I’m in peak form. Working on the company project kept me on my toes and I spent my time in airports and on airplanes reading A LOT of books. But something was missing. I needed to feel good about my body and health again before I could immerse myself in back into the writing waters, and to do that would take time and its own type of devotion.
So, I’m watching what I eat and exercising again. I’ve already managed to shave off fifteen of the thirty pounds, the pain in my back is less and less noticiable, and I’ve returned to the land of happy dreams and wiping the sleep from my eyes. It shouldn’t be a surprise that I can feel that creative drive returning as I shed the weight and push my endurance. I’m not where I want to be yet, but I can feel the momentum pushing (pulling?) me in the right direction. If things continue on course, I should be where I need to be in another 4-6 weeks.
Now, if you’ll excuse me…I need to go drink some raw eggs! 😄
Ew!
ReplyDeletePeople don't realize how much weight and overall health contribute to the well being of all aspects of our life. Keep at it, DL.
Well, I lost 30 pounds but probably gained 5-6 of it back during vacation last week. Still, I feel a hundred times better and re-energized. :)
DeleteSounds like you're getting back on track. There's definitely a big link between mental and physical fitness.
ReplyDeleteIn a big way! I feel so much better now - physically and mentally! :)
Deletegood luck. But seriously, cook those eggs!!
ReplyDeleteI decided on hard-boiled. :)
Delete*gag* You can have the eggs. ;) I'm envious of your good sleep. I won't be having any of that for a long time...and don't even talk to me about weight. Validated or not, it's weight.
ReplyDeleteHere's to your good health! (And mine too...one day.)
It will come Crystal...it will come! :)
DeleteOne area I'm struggling with at the moment is taking time out of each day to do stretches and stuff - I really need to do it daily to combat the effects of having a full time desk job. It would save me money too as I wouldn't need to get massages so often, i think! I hope I get to work on that probably in the next six months or so as I attempt to strike more of a balance.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are getting back on track :)
I carved out the time in pieces instead of trying to do it in one big chunk. Thirty minutes in the AM...fifteen at lunch and another 15 after work is all I need. I'm down 30 pounds and counting. :)
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