This isn't working...

[mousme]

There must be some way to organize myself in such a way that I can go to the gym the way I'd planned. I am definitely going to yoga today, but I ended up not going to do the first part of my workout yesterday, and while I thought I could do it before yoga today, looking at my watch now it doesn't look like I'll have time for that.

I feel very guilty for not going more often. I asked for this for Christmas, and I want to go. I just can't get myself out of bed at an hour in the mornings which would make that feasible and still get all the other stuff done that I need to do. In order to do everything I need to do in the morning and still go to the gym, I'd probably have to get up around 7am. Right now, if I'm lucky, I get up at eight. Usually it's closer to eight thirty, and I wander through the morning feeling as though I'm wading through molasses.

Then I tidy up, feed the cats, run my errands, and suddenly it's time to go to work.

I don't have time on the weekends. Sunday mornings are taken up with a meeting, Sunday afternoons are blocked off for gaming, Sunday evenings are reserved for my parents. Saturday morning and early afternoon is band practice, which essentially cuts my day in half, makes me have to write off my morning, and leaves me with part of Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening free. Saturday afternoons and evenings are my only time off in the week, the only time I ever get to see my friends, and I don't especially relish the idea of sacrificing that in order to go work out, as silly and selfish as that may sound.

So that leaves me with no time to myself at all, and even less time to go to the gym. My parents paid for it, it was a present, I want to go, and I don't want them to feel as though they paid all that money only to have me ignore it. That's not it at all, and I really don't need the extra guilt these days. It's not like I don't walk around with enough of it to begin with.

I don't know what to do about this anymore. I'd try to buddy up with someone as a way to force myself, but most of the people I know have lives and aren't going to the gym in the middle of the morning. They go when normal people go, in the evenings or whatever, when I can't go.

I need an extra few hours in the morning, or else some magical way of being able to cope with only five hours' sleep, which I can't do right now. Hell, I've tried lately, and my body just. won't. let. me. If I set my alarm for seven, I'll switch off the alarm clock and sleep until eight thirty. Eight thirty is my default wake-up time: even on days when I haven't set my alarm, that's when I'm up. If I were going to bed earlier, then waking up earlier wouldn't be a problem, but if that were the case I would also not be on this schedule to begin with.

Do the words "catch-22" ring any bells?

In conclusion? Argh!

Comments

[toughlovemuse.livejournal.com]

Gym once a week is better than gym no times a week.

Getting to yoga and yoga only is better than getting to nothing at all.

And if you're stressing yourself out about going, you're undoing the good that yoga does.

Remember -- small changes. One thing at a time. If you can get to the gym once this week, that's an accomplishment, NOT a failure.

[djs-specs.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Something is better than nothing at all.

[ai731.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd be up for going to the gym with you one morning a week. Any day except Thursday, but Monday would be best for me. I'd want to try to leave by 9, if possible, so that I don't loose too much studio time.

[raven-albion.livejournal.com]

Oh, I SO understand this! My employer just cancelled our health club memberships--a blessing in disguise, since I'd been paying my dues without visiting said health club AT ALL for the entire year prior to the aforementioned cancellation. I have the same wake-up and morning issues too, although my default wake-up time seems to be 7ish. Now I'm trying to figure out how I can re-arrange my schedule to be free on Weds. nights so that I can go to an African dance class, on the theory that it's one more night of activity than what I'm getting currently, except that Weds. is the only open practice weeknight at the pottery studio, and, well, I don't need to go any further than that for you to get the picture. Solidarity in overscheduling, m'dear...

[rosy1.livejournal.com]

Since this deep freeze set in, I too, have found it extremely hard to go in the morning, which is what I prefer (guess I am not normal - I hate the gym in the evenings or God forbid, nights!).

Don't beat yourself up. I feel as long as I don't stop going altogether, it will be easier once Spring is here (or at least when it ceases being painfully cold.

Hang in there...

[tcaptain.livejournal.com]

I've put in a request for a 28 hour day, I figure 4 extra hours should be good and allow me to get just enough done if I split that with sleep time.

I'll let you know when it kicks in and add your name to the request. :)

As toughlovemuse said, once a week is better than none a week (which is my current workout plan).

[luvenditti.livejournal.com]

When I worked at the other school, I woke up at 6am (which at the time seemed ungodly), and then for half an hour I either went for a walk or did yoga. Then I took my shower and got on with my day. The way things are now, to get to work on time, without the half hour of yoga or walking, I wake up at 5:20am. I cannot physically get up earlier than that.

And I miss it. I really do. So I while I have no suggestions that would help you, I totally understand.

[julienne64.livejournal.com]

Oh, I so get this one! There are so many things I need/want to do and not enough time to get them all done.

What I did was this: I got absolutely brutal with picking my priorities and dropped everything else, as much as it hurt. I want to see more of my friends, I want to spend more time going out, I want to go back to my ballroom dance classes, but after my non-negotiable priorities of my job and my son and keeping the house in order (i.e. stocked with food), it only leaves me with enough time for one more thing (i.e. workouts three times a week) because my real heart's desire is the last 45 - 50 lbs. off of my body.

But I warn you, this is a brutal exercise, and I've wavered quite a few times. But in the end, it's all about balancing what makes you really happy.

Hang in there, acknowledging the problem is half your battle.

[sultrysong.livejournal.com]

If I could afford a membership, I'd totally be your gym buddy. I know "if onlys" count for squat, but we're on similar schedules, so when I do have the green for a membership, maybe we can work something out.