Just as we keep out creativity flowing by taking the next step, we need to keep out bodies moving by doing the same thing. I don’t know about you, but I am finding that harder to do these days, and I could use some advice.
It’s easy to say we need to keep moving. “Just don’t stop doing what you’re doing,” was the facile answer I always gave when people noticed my physical abilities. I could squat down to retrieve a file folder from a bottom drawer and stand up again – in heels – with ease, even into my 70s. My last hospital visit, in my late 60s, I had invasive abdominal surgery and the next day I walked a mile (according to my Fitbit) and continued that pace every day, slowly increasing back to my four-miles-a-day pace.
I walked these corridors every day in the hospital. It kept me moving and I healed faster and better because of it. I need to keep that in mind!
But lately, with retirement and then self-isolating, I have slowed way down and I am finding it harder and harder to get moving again.
How does this relate to creativity? you ask.
Well, it’s the question of inertia that touches all our endeavors. Before that hospital visit I was walking several miles every day, so after just a day or two of down time it was easy to pick back up. The same goes for creative endeavors. If I write every day it’s much easier for me to get to the keyboard.
Honestly, it’s also the tyranny of a streak.
If you are like me, seeing an unbroken string of accomplishments – whether it’s thirty minutes on a treadmill, an hour of yoga, or a new chapter of a novel – is often enough to get me off the sofa and on my way. Knowing I haven’t missed a week on this feed gets me back to the computer every Saturday to make sure I have a post ready on Sunday morning, even when I tell myself I don’t want to. (I know myself well enough to not even try to do it early Sunday morning!) Seeing that streak extend another week is a strong motivation. (Also, I actually like doing this, even when I’m cranky about it.)
I have friends who use their walks/runs/hikes as creative time. They dictate stories on mountain trails, or set up a keyboard over a slow-moving treadmill and write while they walk.
Some things don't go well together for me. If I tried to dictate and walk I could wander out into this desert and never be seen again.
I admire their ability. As a lifelong klutz I cannot imagine doing anything that requires my concentration in that way while I am moving. I would wander off the trail and into trouble, or stumble and fall off the treadmill. I do listen to audiobooks or watch Netflix on the treadmill, neither of which requires my full attention.
But I have broken the walking streak, and I am having trouble getting started again. I know, intellectually, that I need to do it for my own health and well-being, but months of isolation have turned me into someone who doesn’t want to leave the house. I can go weeks without leaving the house, and there are only so many steps between the office and the bathroom or kitchen!
In some ways being back at work (temporarily!) has been helpful. It forces me out of the house, I get a little walk from the car to the office, and I am up and down a lot more during the course of the day. The downside is that I am tired at the end of the day and by the time I get out of the office the gym is closing for the night. Not that I have been using the gym, working out with a mask on is annoying (though necessary) and it does require leaving the house.
Walking from the parking lot to the office doesn't sound like much, but this view is from about a third of the way down the hill.
A few feet farther down the hill shows the red-tile roof of my office on the right. There's a highway in between, and a tunnel that connects the parking lots to the hotel. On a day like this one it's a beautiful way to start the day.
This is an issue where I don’t have any answers. I have become very good at finding excuses for every suggestion that comes my way, and I am turning into a hermit. I don’t want to go down that path, but I am having trouble fighting the inertia that has kept me inside for so long.
I’m sure this is part of the malaise everyone is experiencing in a Covid world, but I am hoping some of you have found a way to break out of the rut we have found ourselves in, and that you’re willing to share your secrets.
Maybe a new streak is the answer. Something as small as the mile-a-day goal I had when I was in the hospital. Setting a low bar and exceeding it; celebrating the small accomplishment rather than beating myself up for not doing more.
I know I need to start moving again because what I’m doing is not working for me. And as I said at the beginning, I could use some advice.
So how do you keep yourself moving? What motivates you, drives you to get in that morning run, or afternoon walk, or yoga class? Is a streak enough, or do you have other motivational tricks?
Share your tips and tricks in the comments, my friends. Because I will bet I am not the only person struggling with this one!