Thursday, November 17, 2011

Blowdry Your Fitness

by Kris Pitcher

Many of you regular Blissers know we're spending a little time in sub-tropic Miami while Jacques competes in the NPC Nationals. One thing is for sure, drying curly hair in a sub-tropic climate takes commitment.

It's a multi step process and there is both speed (meaning time crunch) and patience involved. The speed comes in terms of just the right amount of towel drying followed by the precise amount of hair product applied at exactly the right moment.

Now, once you've got your hair product on you can breathe a sigh of relief...and have that cup of coffee, because this is where the patience comes in. It's time to wait. You've got it. Hurry up, and wait.

Sounds a little like our pursuit of health and fitness. Commitment, patience, hurry up and wait. But let's stay with this. Next, we have just the right duration of air drying. This is usually when I eat a meal, or pack meals...or generally get ready for the day ahead. Multi-task time.

Looking in the mirror with an unfamiliar blow dryer in hand I cover the nozzle with my diffuser "sock". You have to have the right tools. Different tools will work, you can always improvise, if you know your stuff.

I work in my regular pattern but it takes a little longer. It's not quite the same as the dry climate I'm used to - I've got to stick with it. It's too hot, my scalp begins to sweat wetting the very roots I've just dried. I'm spinning in circles.

Commitment. Adaptation. I've got to be able to change my regular pattern...to make these different tools work. So I hit the "cool" button on the dryer. Our exercise program is the same, we have to be able to adapt to the conditions around us, to make the tools work for us. We have to be able to improvise.

Eventually my curls were dry. They didn't turn out exactly like I thought. They never do! Curls have a life of their own. They are dynamic. So is our journey toward health and fitness. It's dynamic, ever changing...it doesn't always turn out how we think. Sometimes we put in all the right work, and what we think should change - doesn't change.

Stay with it. Hit the "cool" button. Keep your commitment. It has a life of it's own.

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