It sounded like a crazy idea from the start. Become half the person you are, by watching what you eat and engaging in mild activity three times a week. But when a chore becomes an obsession, you know you’re on the right track. It’s not about the eating or the running. It’s about taking a break from the old you, to become a better version of yourself. That’s the power of change.
As April rolled around with its plethora of public holidays and school breaks, I was all set to jet off to Dubai for my annual family holiday. A change in our team structure at work meant I had to postpone my holiday for a couple of months as we are now one person down, but still need to deliver on our performance targets.
Let’s not kid around – January to March have been full months. I want to say they were busy, but these days, admitting you’re busy is not unlike admitting you have the plague. People hear “I can’t manage my time or workload,” and when you do make the social media faux pas of mentioning your busy-ness, folks tend to post ‘thought’ pieces at you, in a blithe, passive-aggressive way of reminding you that you’re not just not keeping up with the rest of the pack. As if you needed the added stress.
So, facing many public holidays when I will now be on shift instead of sailing on a dhow in the Arabian Gulf, I needed stress relief, and fast. Something to break me away from the ‘always-on’ attentiveness that a job in social media demands. A way to clear the mind and find the space to breathe and relax without all the likes, shares, retweets and comments.
Cue my new “food coach”, Jeané, and her insistence that together with the changes I am making in my eating habits, I needed to get active at least three times a week, for minimum of 30 minutes.
Normally I would have scoffed at this. I gave up physical activity and fitness years ago, and was happy to mosey on through life with the minimal amount of physical exertion. Except that an over-indulgent diet and total lack of exercise meant I got heavy and unhealthy.
I started with three easy beach walks each week. But being the competitive chap that I am, I soon noticed that these walks were having zero positive effect. So I took myself off to a secluded beach, where no one could see me, and I tried a little run.
I huffed and I puffed and I limped across the shoreline. At first I could only manage about 12 seconds of slow, lumbering run, before I had to stop and try and remember how to breathe. And then I tried again, and again, until eventually I could run – slowly – for about 25 seconds, before slowing down to a walk.
The next day, I was back, determined to run further, and faster. I downloaded apps and got myself a heart rate monitor (mostly to ensure I didn’t run myself to death) and my beach workouts started getting longer. 1.2km became 2km and on to 3.5km. I braved Cape Town’s promenade, with its bevy of fit actives running up and down like it was no effort at all, and I managed 5km, then 6.4km and one crazy Friday evening, a ridiculous 11.3km.
Insane. Running is not something I ever had on my vision board. What changed?
The break from being ever-present, that’s what changed. When I am out there running on the beach before my weekend shift, or after work on a Friday night on the prom, it’s just me and the short stretch of pavement or beach sand in front of me.
My mind lets go of anything that is not critical to me taking that next step, that next breath. The only thoughts are those engaged in keeping me going. It’s a phenomenal release. I can let go of the day’s drama, tomorrow’s deadlines, and the chaos and demands of my job.
I’ve found it’s a properly addictive habit, but a healthy one. For some folk, a glass or two of wine after a long day is their way of taking a break and unwinding. Good for them. For me, it’s a solid need to get outside and get moving.
And yes, I’ve become the sort of guy who cross-posts his runs from the Strava app to Facebook. I might not be able to take that break in Dubai just yet, but a short run every other day gives me just enough of a break to keep going until I can step on that jet plane.
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