in the studio | Getting on top of it

This week I read a post on Meredith Bullock's site called My Daily Routine. It's not a secret that I have a HARD TIME with time-management. Basically, I live to work and not work to live. And it looks like Meredith was just like me a year ago, barely sleeping, working non-stop through night and day (there's a reason I bought an upholstered wingback armchair for my desk - after 14 hours my bum gets sore!), not stepping outside for days- it leaves a toll!

Last month I started going to the gym. It's not that I wanted to take time from my work (I am obsessed) and if I did, exercise certainly will not be my first choice. But I did need to get out of the house.

My father started working out, losing weight and getting healthy a few months before and he and my mom started a campaign to get me to sign up to his gym and work with a professional trainer to get healthy. I have never worked out in my life before. I have no posture, no muscle mass, I can't carry groceries, or pick up a 2 kilos package, and my knees give out on stairs. Something needed to be done. But I was resistant to the time investment. I told myself it will take away hours I could be working (it does), it will hurt and tire me out (it does), I won't stick to it (I don't want to), I'm underweight anyways (not like I need to burn off any calories), and any other excuse you can think of. Last month though, like I said, I gave in.

Now I have two training appointments a week. I hate it. BUT I can now say that even though I don't like it, and wouldn't do it if I didn't have a personal trainer, I do see a difference. I still don't have good posture but now it's easier to hold my body straight when I do think of it. Most amazingly, I can run! I almost collapsed the first two lessons and my trainer had to break the lap into sections, but today I actually ran and didn't get dangerously out of breath! Still out of breath, but not burning-lungs-gonna-die-out-of-breath. Don't know why I gotta be able to run, I prefer doing weights only, but I trust that it's good for me. I can't wait for my posture to be corrected and to be able to walk up stairs or carry groceries without spending the rest of the day in bed. Maybe I will get some muscle definition eventually and won't look so fragile. We'll see.

So that's my 'me time' commitment. First step in my 'working to live, not living to work' shift. While I do grudgingly decidate some hours in my week to myself, I'm still not in control of my work schedule so much and the impact has not been good. It's hard to wrangle a healthy work schedule when I spend an average of 4 hours a day answering emails, and 6-22 hours drawing and papercutting one ketubah. Meredith's encouraging words gave me the motivation to try getting on top of it, though. Listing my tasks by priorities and the estimated time it will take me to complete them, I printed a weekly time table from my iCal and filled it in like we did in high school. With my monthly calendar adding another check control it seems to work! Well, I'm still behind (it's a work in progress!) but at least now I know when I am:)

Time for another cup of coffee; it's going to be a long night catching up.

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Image Source | unknown. Let me know if you recognize the work!