We closed the office for two weeks during the holiday period and the day after I virtually collapsed with exhaustion. I fly to Melbourne every working week for a couple of days and I was looking forward to spending my two weeks of holiday leave at home more than anyone could possibly imagine.
I was so tightly wound that when I finally stopped working, my body gave in. It took three days before I could lift the fatigue veil. During my sleepy haze I resolved to minimise activity involving social media during the two weeks that lay ahead. My family doubted that I could do it, given that I am rarely seen without my iPhone, night or day. It is next to me on my bedside table while I sleep and the first and last thing I check each day, seven days a week.
Relaxation doesn’t come naturally to me so I had to work towards it. I channelled my need to be busy into cleaning out cupboards and searching for ideas for home improvement, instore and online: floorboards, kitchens, bathrooms, painting, pool fences. My husband Graeme panicked when he assumed I was nesting … frantically nesting. My 16-year-old son found me scrubbing windows in a hurried state late one afternoon and accused me of being “a work horse”. As I said, relaxation doesn’t come easily to me.
Graeme wisely thought it best to direct me into an activity that would keep me busy but also help me to relax. He took me swimming with him. Every week of the year he swims 30 laps twice a week. And he has successfully completed a few ocean swims. I am a terrible swimmer and have rarely been able to reach the end of a 50-metre pool. However, I love a challenge and so I set myself the task of swimming 50 metres during the first session. In the time that it took him to swim 30 laps I managed to swim two. I was so thrilled with myself at having reached the end of the pool once, that I immediately assumed I could do it again. It almost killed me. A couple of days later we went back to the pool and I swam four laps to Graeme’s 30. It was sheer determination, and absolutely zero swim-style, that got me there.
My body was aching in all of the places that indicated I have neglected it for too long. I enjoyed the challenge of swimming four laps, but not the activity. I just don’t like swimming. But I was finally able to unwind and completely clear my thoughts while in that pool because I had to concentrate on reaching the pool wall and the strokes that would get me there. The stress knots in my neck and shoulders seemed to dissipate. I suddenly felt more alive.
At the age of 48 it is time to shift my work-life-health focus to a point where I at least pay some respect to my health. For the past decade at least my new year’s resolutions have revolved around career but on the stroke of midnight this year I was able to admit that I am happy with where my career sits today. So my resolution this year is to secure my good health through a regular physical activity that works with the rest of my life. After much research I have settled on yoga — the hot one. It’s the only form of exercise that I have ever stuck with for more than a few months in my post-school life. However, I like the idea of working up a sweat so I have been recommended bikram yoga: the one that is conducted in sauna-like conditions for maximum health benefits. It feels like just the right mix of challenge and benefit for me. I’ll let you know how I go.
Have you resolved to focus on your health this year too? What form of exercise are you committing to?