One of those days . . .
Yesterday was a hair straightening day. This process is a 6+ hour ordeal, involving 2 hours of driving and 4 hours of sitting in the styling chair. I am in awe of people who can get any substantive work done in said chair (I cannot).
EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. that I have a hair appointment, I assume that I will somehow be able to squeeze in a bunch of work tasks. I pack my laptop and bring it to the appointment. And I get absolutely nothing done. When will I learn? I actually think I DID learn this in the past, and I guess I need to relearn. In fact, I recall making myself a planner note in the past on hair day NOT to consider it a work day or try to plan in anything else. I am going back to that right now (though my next straightening appointment won’t be until January)!
I did come home and re-record a BLP ep because I decided I wasn’t happy with the one I recorded the day prior, so I guess that is something! (I rarely do this, but felt like I was a bit over my head on the topic I had selected — relating books on mortality and mindfulness to planning — and might have deserved some of the inevitable backlash! Even though my listeners are generally very kind).
I scrolled Reddit for a really obscene amount of time, both during my appointment and upon arriving home. I am admitting this lest anyone think I never spiral off into habits that I know don’t serve me. Sometimes I do. But honestly, I think I got it out of my system. Also, PMS.
Today is another day!
Milestones + Streaks
This popped up in my email today:
Okay cool! I’ve done 500 strength workouts! I know some people get really into counting and tracking their Peloton progress, but for whatever reason, I don’t really find myself very motivated by these kinds of numbers — especially since I’m often “stacking” 3 workouts to make up a 40 minute session. To be fair, I did set a goal of 100 strength sessions in 2025 when I was (pre-heart incident) having trouble motivating myself to do them with all the running. But maybe this is an upholder thing (only care if it’s MY goal or priority!?).
(I also have a bit of an aversion to streaks, probably because sometimes I have “off” days like the one above and I don’t want to feel like I ruined anything — I’d rather just have the feeling of starting fresh the next day!)
I do have to say I have gotten somewhat stronger since I had to abandon running (and decided to embrace strength training instead — I don’t love it in the same way, but I don’t hate it and it does fill the void reasonably well). I am getting close to the point where I would have to go to a gym and use actual equipment/heavier weights if I want to progress (well, on lower body anyway — I am definitely NOT beyond my dumbbell set for upper — the highest ones we currently own are 25 lb each).
I don’t know if I really want to do that right now, though. I am pretty happy with my current routines: 2 ~30 min upper body sessions + 2 ~30 min lower body sessions weekly, 10 minute core ~4x/week (I use the HCOTF calendar to make picking these workouts brainless), and supplementing with Peloton yoga. Plus, I want to try adding in-studio Pilates 1-2x/week, and I don’t think I would have time to do two things out of the house.
On that note, I am logging off to do this session — I love these yoga/pilates combos!
PS: I am theSHUbox on Peloton in case anyone wants to connect there!
13 Comments
isn’t it interesting that we realize exPost something we learned many times and magically forget? That’s strength training even body weight during travel for me. Every time that I stop for two weeks, some injury occurs. Sigh…
Great that you enjoy strength training combo now.
I make this same mistake at dance conventions– always think I will work; never do. At competitions I always think will read and never do. 🤣🤷🏻♀️
I am trying to imagine what I would do for a four hour appointment. It all depends on if it’s a setting where I could use headphones. Then I could do an audio book/podcasts or maybe even a TV show or movie. Plus mindless scrolling!
I am anti-streak. I think it’s fine to do short term things, but when it’s “I am doing this Every.Single.Day for the Rest.Of.My.Life”, things can get weird pretty fast. One thing that drives me crazy is that the meditation app that I use when I can’t sleep recently added a streak/gamification thing. The last thing that I want to do when I’m awake at 2 AM and can’t get back to sleep is to click through a couple of screens about the streak goal that I will never have.
Oof. Four hours??? I guess I would try to read. But that is a LONG time!!! Just out of curiosity, what does your hair look like if you don’t straighten it? Do you have any photos from long ago?
If I’m doing a lower body strength workout at home, I try to do a lot of one leg things- but if I want to do squats or deadlifts I have to go to the gym. For upper body, the weights we have at home are plenty heavy!
Eh it’s not that curly just wavy and super frizzy. I only ever wore it up so really there are pix of it in its natural state! For my wedding it was (I think) flat ironed and then curled! Started straightening in 2007… so it’s been a while, though while pregnant I skipped it!
I feel that way about getting up early to workout. I can’t count the number of times I’ve told myself I would do it.. but have only actually done it… (excluding swimming when it was at 6am not 5) 5 or so in my life. I am not a lark at all.
Lol, I have finally accepted this about myself too. I don’t want to do it and am not going to try.
I feel the EXACT same about evening workouts!
I think we all need downtime, so it’s great you have this time that can’t really be filled with anything! Your brain and body are so often in motion, so it’s a little “shouldless” day a la Lisa!
I’m doing a 28-day Pilates series right now and really enjoying it. Though my abs were begging for mercy yesterday, so “enjoying it” might be a bit of a stretch 😉
You could try adding in tempo and pauses for the dumbbells. It will make it feel harder without lifting heavier weights. They do sell fifty pound dumbbells 😉
I can work during my hair appts but on very specific things that I pick in advance and are lower energy items i.e. reading info, responding to email, tinkering with presentations (aka not creating from scratch). I still remember getting my hair colored while pumping and on a work call and it felt like a total working mom moment that no dad could probably understand! And for strength workouts, I bought 30lb dumbbells which helped extend my leg workouts at home for a while so to me, that was worth it.
If I had space in my home, I would totally get a rack and barbell setup. Something to consider in order to progress with weight training.
I love your anti streak energy! As a therapist, I recommend it all the time. I remember you writing about it a long time ago and it has changed how I view things. I find not having streaks helps me keep up with stuff.