My Secret to teetering on the edge of 'fitness'
Physical Fitness
Carrying out a physical activity that raises your heart rate, eating healthily and getting enough sleep should give you a certain level of physical fitness.
Higher levels of fitness are specific to the activities that a person carries out. You can be fit to carry out one particular task, that doesn't mean you are fit to carry out every task.
Mental fitness
Just like physical exercise, reaching and maintaining a mental state of well-being can take work if it isn't your natural state.
Mental illness aside, gaining a calm and contented mind can come from engaging in your preferred form of physical exercise, whether it be going to the gym, going for a run or climbing a mountain.
My reality
Fitness is fleeting, it has to be maintained or you will lose it eventually. And it's that maintenance, over a lifetime, that I am finding tedious.
Just lately I've had a love-hate relationship with physical exercise. I only want to be doing epic things, not huffing and puffing in a gym or on a monotonous run. This is new to me, I have always enjoyed gym classes, martial arts and going for the odd run.
Whilst saving up for my next adventure I tend to go into a physical and mental lock-down state. There's no logical reason for this lock-down, going for a run or exercising at home doesn't cost anything. It's a cycle of doom; I don't exercise so my mental wellness suffers, my motivation drops, so I don't exercise. And so it goes on.
I lack the gene that makes people want to be better than other people at, what I consider, a leisure activity. So that doesn't motivate me. I've no interest whatsoever in competing in anything, my leisure activities are for savouring the moment only. Anyone that has worked with me will be saying 'She's such a liar, she always wants to be the best at work' but let me tell you, that's not true, I just wanted to do a really good job for my own satisfaction, I was never competing with you!
Bearing in mind that health and fitness are closely linked, I try to maintain a modicum of 'fitness' during my lock-down periods. This ticking-over of a general fitness has allowed me to do 'nothing' for 6 to 8 months, then go on an epic adventure, without injury (excluding falls!) or aching muscles. Whether that is real 'fitness', I don't know, but it's my best effort at the moment and it works for me.
We can eat the healthiest of meals and consistently engage in physical activities, yet still get ill. Chemical and radioactive pollution, genetics, accidents, germs can all lead to disease or injury and stop your hard-earned fitness dead in its tracks. So I don't let it rule my time on this planet, in this one life we get.
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