This one was prompted by a question a friend posed while watching a particularly tense football game last weekend The Super Bowl teams — Patriots and Giants — give insight to the answer.
Today’s Game Plan: This Is Why We Watch Sports
{ 0 comments }
Let’s go inside my mind for an entire workout, shall we? In fact, let’s start prior.
I wake up this morning with a headache. First thought, no gym. Perfect excuse. Takes about five minutes for hard-driving Nancy to kick in and say, really? Get over yourself. Pop some Excedrin and let’s go. So you did yoga last night and now you feel all “obligation fulfilled.” No, it’s not. Get thee to the gym.
It begins, as always, with stretching all nice and solo in an empty aerobics room. Really started to get the value of stretching about a year ago and now it’s vital. The music gets me pumped and the blood starts flowing and then I’m on a mat doing abs. Headache is almost gone. Pat myself on the back for pushing myself.
Time to lift. Doing upper body today. At machine one, I spot a guy I’ve never seen before. Oh my. Michael Jackson is blaring in my ears and I am covertly (?) enjoying this maybe 30-year-old working a nearby machine. Each time I move to another station, the mirrors all around keep him in my sights. Thank you, whoever you are, because between watching you and the effects of highly caffeinated Excedrin kicking in, I am pushing myself hard.
Now for the elliptical. I hop on. Not one to turn on the TV when I’m doing cardio, I’m focused on the Van Halen coming through the iPod. A young woman next to me is watching “Sex and the City” and come on, I have to watch. I instantly recognize it as the last one in the series because Carrie is cradling her broken necklace at the front desk of her Parisian hotel. Big is about to walk in.
My mind is churning. I love and hate Big simultaneously. I know what it feels like to have a guy care, not do anything about it, but never really go away either. He stakes no claim, but checks in every so often and changes the subject whenever I bring up my dating life or sex life. Big. Grrrrr. And yet, he tells Carrie she’s the one and I get teary. I don’t even have the audio and I’m all emotional.
Now Pink is coming through my earphones. Yeah, man. She’s still a rock star. She’s got her rock moves. Don’t mess. And now Harry is telling Charlotte they’re getting a Chinese baby and he shows her a picture of a gorgeous little girl. Charlotte cries and I’m teary again.
I take off one earphone and motion to the woman next to me. She looks at me quizzically and I tell her I’m all teary when I can’t even hear what she’s watching. She smiles and says, “I know. Me, too.”
We go back to our elliptical worlds. I finish up and head toward the locker room, but not before one of my gym buddies stops me. He’s a married guy who routinely tells me I’m hot and is clearly looking for some side action. I tell him I’m not interested. He pushes a bit. Really? ‘Cause as tempting as it is to hook up with a guy who’s breaking vows, wouldn’t spend a single holiday with me and hasn’t an ounce of interest in my intellect, I’m gonna pass.
Whew, another workout in the bag.
{ 0 comments }
In most cases, taking a stand is the confident, intelligent thing to do. Ideally we learn as much as we can and then decide where we come down on an issue. But sometimes that isn’t so easy. At least not for me.
The last week or so we’ve seen a lot of Joe Paterno and Paula Deen in the news. The judgment has been raining down, but I had to step back and process a bit. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Today’s Game Plan: What’s With Our Rush to Judgment?
{ 0 comments }
I can be intense in my work. I push myself hard. I have soaring ambition. Always have. But I need large chunks of down time as well. I get antsy without that and try to build it into my schedule. Those things feed off each other. My life is a cool and crazy mix of fodder, reflection, expression (lather, rinse, repeat).
Turns out I have that in common with Georgia O’Keeffe. In the latest issue of O The Oprah Magazine there was this under the heading, Play Hard, Work Hard:
“Georgia was a proto slacker,” writes Karen Karbo, author of How Georgia Became O’Keeffe. “There were days and weeks when she would read, spend hours tramping around outside, write letters, sew, and play dominoes … But when Georgia worked, she worked her ass off.”
Uh huh.
{ 0 comments }
Finally got around to reading my February issue of O The Oprah Magazine and became inspired to write my six-word memoir, a la Larry Smith’s contest over five years ago.
I began by jotting down some words I thought would work — writer, soulful, reflective et al. Then I wrote, “I will write until I perish” (a nicer, more concise variation of “I will not retire. They will pry the pen out of my cold, dead hands”).
But then what popped into my head was something a friend said to me over a year ago. Yep, it’s my six-word memoir:
Zen chick with a Jersey edge.
{ 0 comments }
The last four years I attended a conference called Conversation Among Masters — an annual gathering for master-level coaches — and one of the highlights has been coach/performer Laura Berman Fortgang keeping us entertained with skits and good cheer. Last year she introduced a character she’d invented named Life Coach Lurlene, resplendent in leopard and sass, and she was received with much laughter and appreciation.
I recently caught Lurlene’s show at Studio Players in Montclair, N.J. and just knew I had to interview her and her creator.
Today’s Game Plan: A Coach Finds Her ‘Inner Glitter’
{ 0 comments }
Went to pick up my new progressive lenses at the optometrist today. Put on the snazzy frames, looked in the big mirror in front of me and what became instantly clear was how badly I need a hair cut and color. Let’s hear it for focused vision.
But then I went to meet a client, put on the new glasses and she said I remind her of Tina Fey. I’ll take that on any and all levels.
{ 0 comments }
Brian Scudamore is one of those people who just gets it. He has a gift for building businesses. He sees possibilities and opportunities and he makes them happen. After taking 1-800-GOT-JUNK? to a successful place, he recently took on the painting business and launched 1-888-WOW-1DAY! I had the pleasure of interviewing him about it recently.
Today’s Game Plan: A Painting Business with a Brush of ‘Wow’
{ 0 comments }
I visited a blog recently where a woman was writing about being in her 30s. I applaud that and enjoyed her style. But almost immediately something I read made me smile and shake my head. It was about counting calories.
I am here to tell you that is an activity that is way over at 50. And if it’s not, it should be.
This is not to judge my dear blogging sister. I toyed with my weight issues for many years and counted until my fingers were blue — calories, fat grams, points, pounds. But blessedly my 40s were a nice transition from that to my current state – thinner than I’ve been in ages and not counting a darned thing.
It’s a common sense formula — good food, reasonable portions, dessert in moderation, regular exercise. No magic. No pills. No diet. The very mention of the latter word makes me cock my head to the side and look at the person uttering it with an incredulous stare. Really?
The unspoken piece, of course, is if food is your addiction. You know, the thing you reach for when anxious, depressed or angry as a way to feel better. That’s a whole different kind of work on self that needs to be addressed. I learned from a therapist that every time I reach for something over-the-top when I’m not even hungry I should pause and ask myself why.
I scoffed at her suggestion at first. Who has that kind of control? But it was eventually pivotal in turning around my manic eating. One day over a decade ago, upset over a man, I reached for the Ben & Jerry’s in the market. Then I took her advice and thought about it for a moment. I walked out of there with a bouquet of flowers instead.
The urge only hits occasionally now and I’m pretty good at staving it off, but it took a lot of practice to make it a habit. I try to use it as the example for other challenges that come up in my life.
Here’s what I learned: Our society is weight-obsessed. We don’t have to be.
And, well, the cliche: One day at a time.
{ 0 comments }
