Movement and Shifting

Sometimes MOVEMENT is about SHIFTING

I’ve been thinking today about all he ways that I (we) avoid movement.

I am off work today, home by myself and trying to get a few things done. When it is time to gather laundry from upstairs and get it downstairs, I do one of two things:

• Pack the laundry basket with everything I can, then have to carefully navigate the stairs so that I don’t fall. This usually necessitates taking the stairs one at a time with both feet…you know, like a toddler.
• Drop the laundry over the stair railing to the kitchen below and hope that the dirty underwear and socks don’t land where we cook or eat. Yeah…ew…

So when I dropped the first armful of sheets over the railing this morning…it just made me pause.

MOVEMENT does not necessarily equal EFFICIENCY

It isn’t always about running five miles or going to an aerobics class for an hour. Sometimes, most of the time, MOVEMENT is simply about changing the way we do the little things. As part of my job, one of the things I look for are ways that we can do things more easily or more efficiently. It’s also a natural part of who I am. So shifting my thought away from always being efficient is a struggle.

I was supposed to be in Zumba at 8:15 this morning. I set the alarm for 7:00. Enough time to wake myself up and get breakfast. Plus a little leeway for hitting snooze and if I got there 15 minutes early I could do a little on the treadmill.

Apparently some part of my brain or body decided I needed more sleep more than I needed Zumba this morning because I woke up about 9:15. My immediate reaction was disappointment (mostly because my friend was teaching this morning and I didn’t want to miss it!), but that was quickly followed by “Open the laptop, look at the class schedule and see what else you can do today!” When the schedule revealed that nothing else today would work because of the other things I have to do, I struggled for a several minutes. I had to really fight not to be disappointed in myself.

This morning’s pattern has been typical for me, when I don’t have to be up for something important – by important I mean like work or a doctor’s appointment or meeting someone else. Zumba was important to me this morning, but no one was going to be put out or inconvenienced because I wasn’t there. This is what my fight for self-discipline is. If no one knows that I set the goal, then no one will know and no one can be disappointed in me because I didn’t meet it. Yes, my friend knew that I was planning to be in class this morning, but she still had other people to teach and I’ll see her next week.

This all sounds like I’m kicking myself for this. I’m really not. I am trying to listen to my body and realizing that maybe this thought about SHIFTING is what I needed to learn today.

So how do we SHIFT when we can’t always MOVE? I learned some of these from a lady years ago in Weight Watchers. Today reminded me to start looking for small ways to move…

• Don’t spend time circling the parking lot looking for the closest space. Park further out so you have to walk more…and you can find a space quicker. This especially applies when going to the gym!
• Bring in your groceries or other purchases one bag at a time instead of loading as many as you can in your arms and risk dropping something. And if you live with others, don’t ask for help bringing stuff in, just get them to start unpacking and putting things away.
• When cleaning the house, take things from room to room as you find them instead of stockpiling an armful or boxful to take to another room when you finish that one.
• Stop using laundry baskets or reduce using them. Take your laundry in armfuls.
• At our house we generally serve ourselves from the kitchen and take our dinner into the family room or dining room. If you get to the table and have forgotten something, get up and get it yourself instead of asking the next person to bring it to you when they come. This applies to eating out if some of it is “serve yourself”. Get your own refill on your drink instead of getting someone who is already getting up to get it. OR…offer to get the refills for everyone and do it one glass at a time.

For two loads of laundry this morning I’ve been up and down the stairs four times – that’s up four and down four. The habit in my house for YEARS is that we toss most of the clean socks, undershirts, towels and wash cloths in a basket and fold them later while we watch TV. I shall be folding them standing at the kitchen table with my iPod on listening to my workout mix. There may be dancing involved.

What are little ways that you move?