A couple of years ago I started challenging myself to step out of my comfort zone and try something I otherwise would rather not consider doing. I set a goal to do one way out of the box thing a year and be more open to the serendipity that seems to avail itself when I'm willing to take on other less invasive challenges as they arise.
I'm due for a major out of the box adventure (heads up Debbie E. !), but in the meantime I signed up for a fitness boot camp. I lack a killer instinct... at least where athletics is concerned. My athletic prowess or lack thereof includes more than a decade of ballet, hand full of years doing gymnastics and oh yes, baton twirling! (Did I mention I was College Miss Majorette of California and Int. National T-Strutting Champion at AYOP, I have the broken nose and rotator cuff surgery to prove it :) Yet, I never once received the physical fitness "Presidential Badge" that was awarded throughout grade school and beyond, because I couldn't run a mile and could not do even a single proper chin-up :(
Decades ago I taught some Jane Fonda workout class and in recent years, I was for a time, a certified personal trainer, but in all honesty I'd rather inspire someone to get moving and enjoy the endorphins and camaraderie that comes from group exercise than to personally do the work that causes this arthritic, asthmatic, aging body to be pushed to the limit. So, why in the world would I sign up for a fitness BOOT CAMP??!!? (perhaps I need to rethink this adventerous spirit I'm trying to engage!) Not only did I register of my own free will, but paid real $$$ to show up at 5:30am, and fight not only the considerable chill under the star studded sky, but my unyielding desire to go home and go to sleep!
Boot Camp runs 4 days a week for 4 weeks. This week marks my halfway point. I'm feeling stronger, at least mentally. I've stopped trying to take a rest when the instructor has his or her head turned. That was a major feat! I'd play mental gymnastics that would go something like this: Oh crud! the instructor is watching... work it... work it... don't give up, you can do it.... oh thank goodness, they are looking elsewhere... back off, slow down, slack off.... followed rapidly by the realization, that not only did I sign up out of my own free will, I wrote the check and got my tired body out of bed at an hour that usually marks my 5th hour of sleep for the night, so who am I cheating if I don't give it my all.!?!?...Come on Kari, get your rear moving..!!! That mental tug-of-war would find me redoubling my efforts (at least for the next five minutes) until I'd play it all over again in my mind.
Even if I've tasted a bit of the high you get from going beyond your comfort zone, I don't think you'll ever find me running a marathon, probably not even a 5k, but I feel good having made it this far! I knew a lady once that hiked 60 miles with a great group of friends on her 60th birthday. I remember telling her on my 60th birthday, I'd like to try 60 different spa treatments! I still think that would be my preference :) Well.... 2 weeks to go, I can see the finish line, hopefully it will be the beginning of my next adventure....
