Over the past month work has been unusually busy. I’ve found it difficult to leave my desk which may sound strange when we’re all working from home, but it’s true. Recently, I’ve been waking up, sitting down at my desk, and failing to take a break, even for meals. My entire focus somehow, in the past few weeks, has shifted away from prioritising some time in the day for me, to being glued to a screen and keyboard.
I started lockdown with what I think was a relatively positive and healthy attitude. I knew that things would be difficult, that routines would change, and I managed to keep adjusting things up so that I didn’t get stuck in a rut. However, the result of a busy work schedule on top of lockdown? I now seem to be in that rut I was desperate to avoid.
The more time I spend sitting, the more my body seems to think it’s natural to spend an entire day on a chair. The more time I spend inside, the less motivated I am to leave the house. When things are busy, the best option somehow seems to be to do less, not more.
Now, I’ve been busy before with work. Often it’s been related to a specific transaction that has an end date. But recently it’s been a whole mix of factors with no specific end date. I also used to commute to the office, and there was a clear break between my home and my work. With lockdown, I completely lost the plot. There were no longer those artificial boundaries and natural breaks in the day. There was no one to watch me working away at my desk at 10pm. There was just me and my own decision-making, and I have to say, I wish I’d added some of my own structure and not forgotten how important it is to take care of myself first.
And now that work is slowing down, the last thing I feel like doing is heading off for a run. I understand my brain’s thinking on this. I’ve been pushing myself hard, to the extent that I don’t have much brain power left to locate a pair of running socks or charge my Garmin watch, let alone actually move quicker than… well… not moving.
So I made a plan.
I’ve made lots plans throughout my life because I’m someone who likes knowing what’s next, or at least trying to predict what it might be. Sometimes I’ve had really in-depth plans, such as that one point in time I had a full five-year plan almost by default due to becoming a lawyer. But often, I come up with a mini game plan that’s just for me. I don’t even need to tell anyone about it, as long as I can remember it and, more importantly, remember why I’m sticking to it.
Yesterday, I came up with the plan that a short run is better than no run, and that frequent workouts are better than longer ones.
This plan came to me when I nearly wrote off my first lunchtime run in three weeks due to the fact that it was going to be a short one, rather than my usual loop. I realised I had subconsciously been putting pressure on myself to go for longer runs and because I wasn’t able to fit those into my day, I just didn’t bother. That’s when I decided that any run, any distance and any pace would be better than no run.
If you’re reading this debating whether today is the day to give something a go - it is! Don’t overthink it and don’t pressure yourself to do more than you’re able to fit in. Just make the time because even if it’s only 20 minutes, do that a few times a week and you’ve clocked an hour. And if I’ve learned anything, it’s that we need to create our own structures to ensure we’re taking care of ourselves first because no one else can do that for us.
