Bring on the ambition

– Column –

By Julia Wolf

I fully admit I am now a pencil pusher. After four years of college, and a year and a half on the job, I’ve found myself sitting more than ever.

I try to enjoy a fairly active lifestyle in my free time, a carry over from growing up. I danced a ton throughout high school.

While that slowed quite a bit in college, the university did offer a variety of group exercise classes to try to break up the constant studying. I took advantage of those. The fact that there were other people in the class to keep me motivated and I didn’t need to plan anything in order to get a good workout in, made the group exercise classes more appealing.

Better yet, if you completed a set number of the exercise classes in a semester, you got a free t-shirt. Well, the student fees at the beginning of the year funded the t-shirt giveaway, but it felt free at the time. For some reason, college students seem to go nuts over a free shirt.

Post-school, I’ve noticed I don’t have quite the same level of motivation as I used to. I’ve blamed the lack of a workout buddy and prize to work toward, for my low ambition.

I recently learned virtual races are a thing and after looking into them, was intrigued by the idea. Basically, you register for a race online and then track how far you go. When you’ve reached the distance goal, the prize is mailed to you. Some of the races raise money for a charitable cause.

I signed up for one of those and then decided to sign my boyfriend up for some friendly competition. Competition is a very generous word for what has become of it.

The race I selected for the two of us is 114.6 miles. At this point, I am 40 miles into the race. My boyfriend has 20 miles left. Oops.

When I signed the two of us up for the race, we were both under the impression we would be pretty even. Turns out, the race goes a lot faster when you walk five miles during the work day, as part of your job.

I also decided to take up a few classes again. Since the internet offers a number of options for free classes I can do in my own home, I decided to try some aerial classes that require special equipment. If you’re going to pay to do it, you might as well pay for something you can’t do otherwise. It’s also nice to meet other people who have similar interests, or at least the willingness to try new things.

Turns out, everyone else in those classes is there, because they need other people for motivation to show up.

Despite my near constant bad luck, which has been written about more than I’d like to admit, most of the bad luck doesn’t stem from clumsiness. At least I didn’t think it did, until I tried my hand at an aerial yoga and dance series.

The class has been a blast so far, but it is not as easy as the internet would make it look. There is very little yoga actually involved in the class, so that is not helping my odds at all. I’m kind of capable of yoga.

The aerial part is a lot harder than the yoga part, but also the fun part. It’s not every day you get to hang upside down and do flips in a hammock. However, the fun part also makes bruises.

It’s not even something I’m doing wrong to get the bruises. The marks are just part of the game. The way you wrap the hammock around you gives you a squeeze, like a really, really, tight hug. Then, you get tiny pressure and pinch bruises in a little line across your legs. I shouldn’t have expected anything less with the positions called things like a “tourniquet hold.”

Yep, I understand the name now. Not to mention, the entire class is quite the workout, so I’m going to be a smidge sore the next day anyway. It all hurts so good.

The classes have gotten me out of my chair and moving more, though. Now, if only I could get motivated enough to beat my boyfriend at something.