Fitness Fellowship 2025: Check-in 33 (a day late)

[sylvanwitch]

Here we are past the midway point of August. I go back to work next week (meetings, student orientations, etc.) and I'm having a little trouble wrapping my brain around it. For 50 of my 54 years, the rhythms of my life have been dictated by the academic calendar, but every year I grow older, the harder it is for me to readjust to having less time for myself.

If you have a similar challenge in your life, a cyclical thing that dictates to you the way you spend your time, do you also experience feelings of stress when an expected change comes around?

As always, there's no need to answer my navel-gazing questions, but please do share how your fitness journey went for you this past week.



Weight: Well, I gained a LOT on our staycation, but I'm pleased to report that I'm only a pound up from last week's weigh-in today. I'm pleased with that.

Exercise: I did yoga four out of four times pledged, did strength training four out of three times pledged, and walked a LOT. I was breaking in new sneakers, and I paid the price in blisters!

Eating Plan: We had a few seasonal restaurants we wanted to get takeout from before they closed, so we made it a point to do that during our staycation, which means I was eating a lot of stuff I don't normally consume. Still, it was all delicious, and I don't really regret any of it!

Hydration: Absolutely! It was very hot here last week, so hydration was a must.

Meditation: Yes, once.

Sleep: I've been staying up so late because I've been reading books that just won't let me go. I need to readjust my sleep schedule so next week's school hours don't kick my butt.

The week ahead: As noted, I need to work on getting to bed earlier and getting up earlier to help my body readjust to the school thing. Otherwise, I'm going to eat healthily, get the usual exercise, meditate, hydrate, etc. Same old, same old, but with a sense of urgency and growing dread. Lol!


I'm sending you all the good vibes I can spare that you have lots of success this coming week!

Comments

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Still sweltering here. :P The most I managed today was hauling water out to several of the gardens. I picked a couple of red cherry tomatoes though.

Re: Well ...

[sylvanwitch]

Hauling water in the high heat is absolutely exercise! YAY for fresh-picked tomatoes! I'm sending you cool-weather vibes!

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

And today it is cooler! :D It was 78F last I checked. Yesterday's heat index was in the high 90s. I have 3 irises to plant but I'll need to water the areas first to make the ground soft enough to dig.

Re: Well ...

[sylvanwitch]

I do hope you get to enjoy the relatively cooler temps for a while, anyway! We're having cooler weather here, as well, and it has been glorious. I know I'm allowing myself to be lulled into a false sense of security, however. Doubtless, the season still has some misery in store for us!

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I can live with it being hot sometimes, but "too hot to work outside for weeks" is problematic.

Happily, today was hot but not unbearable. I got the irises planting and some watering done. \o/

Re: Well ...

[sylvanwitch]

Yay! That's good news for you (and for the irises)! :-)

Still slacking

[oldtoadwoman]

I keep saying that I'm ready to get back in gear ... and then I always have an excuse for why I can't exercise today and why I need one more snack and will be better tomorrow.

Stress has remained high this summer when I was hoping to finally relax. Much, much better than I was when I still had the awful job, but there is still so much anxiety and uncertainty and depression involved in a job search. I have an in-person interview Thursday for a job that's almost a lock. (The hiring manager said she was offering me the job, but HR has been dragging their feet, and then they scheduled this "meeting" that is allegedly not an interview but ... I have a feeling this is why HR is dragging their feet. This is the person who could still veto me being hired and they're waiting to see what she thinks of me.)

Re: Still slacking

[sylvanwitch]

Ugh, that is *hugely* stressful, and I definitely understand why you aren't back on the wagon yet. Here's hoping that (a) you get the job; and (b) the stress is relieved somewhat, so you can concentrate on returning to some of those healthier habits! *crosses fingers and toes for you*

Re: Still slacking

[oldtoadwoman]

The offer letter came through this morning! They are still qualifying everything with "pending completion of the background check" (which should be fine as I have no secret criminal history ... but this kind of paperwork always makes me nervous anyway).

Re: Still slacking

[sylvanwitch]

YAY! That's awesome news! And I know exactly what you mean about the background check. I get all paranoid, like I've somehow committed a bunch of crimes I've never been caught for and don't remember doing.

Re: Still slacking

[oldtoadwoman]

Right?! I should not be this paranoid when I live a super boring law-abiding life. (On the other hand, it doesn't feel that crazy to worry about because there's so much data out there that isn't accurate. I imagine how easy it would be for things to get attached to the wrong person's file and then your life is ruined because someone else couldn't type an i.d. number or name correctly.) So I'm honestly not going to relax until I get that first paycheck. (And I'm also sure that the first few months of the job will be a little bumpy as I figure out all the new parts of the role.)

[oschun]

It's hard going back to school, isn't it? We have these dual identities as teachers I think and it's not easy putting away the summer version of yourself every year. We've got results day tomorrow so I'll go in for that. School then restarts Mon 1st for us. I'm not feeling particularly anxious. I think spending two weeks in SA was a reality check and kicked me out of that internalised obsession with school. I still have a healthy distance from it mentally. S and I went for a walk the other day and were strolling along, not talking, and I commented on how 'quiet' my mind was. In term-time my brain would automatically have been obsessing over my to-do list. I'm sure that mental quietness will disappear once I'm back in it though!

I had grand plans for the last two weeks of the holiday and thought I would do pilates every morning and finally start a weigh-lifting routine at the gym, but that has been derailed by a tooth extraction last week, followed by getting dry socket. It's been awful, honestly. So painful. Anyway, bright side of having an agonising open wound in my mouth is I've finally given up the nicotine lozenges that I've been addicted to for years. Lol, every cloud has a silver lining. Hopefully, the socket will have healed by next week and I can get back to the gym. I did also manage to do some cooking with all our plums and figs at the beginning of last week before the tooth nightmare happened.

I hope the next few days are not too hard on you and that yoga, meditation, walking, gardening and all that other good stuff help soothe and calm your mind so you can sleep well and feel strong enough to tackle the challenges ahead.

[sylvanwitch]

You so understand this strange dichotomy of self we teachers live in, my friend. Each year, I have a more difficult time pulling myself back into "school mode," and I worry that my work there will suffer because I have developed distance and I'm not sure I can give it up anymore. (And every year, about three weeks in, something in me surrenders to the inevitable. We'll see if that's true this year, as well.)

I am so, so sorry to hear about your tooth issues and dry socket. Someone else had commented on it somewhere in my social media life and said it was the worst pain they'd ever experienced--just relentlessly miserable. That truly sucks. I'm glad you've found a silver lining with it, but I do hope the pain is over now and that you don't have to have anymore dental work done.

Thank you for the good wishes, my friend. I'm sending you all the same right back at you--that you are able to find balance and have a quiet mind even during the most stressful parts of the new school year.

Here we go, regardless, right? :-)

[delphi]

My working life isn't as a cyclical as academia, but I do really struggle to switch gears in between work and vacation. I hesitate to take two weeks off in a row sometimes, because I know that after ten days I adjust to my vacation schedule and find it really hard to go back.

Congratulations on the exercise achievements - but oof, sorry to hear about the blisters!

I'm continuing with my annual summer struggle with the basics, topped with the stress of apartment-hunting. It wasn't a very successful week in terms of eating regularly or getting enough sleep, but I'm working at it. I did get out for a few hours' walk with a friend on the weekend, which felt good. Thankfully, I think we just have one more heatwave predicted before we (hopefully) ease into autumn.

[sylvanwitch]

The older I get, the more I come to resent the USian attitude toward work, i.e. "the grind," as some sort of purpose in and of itself, as if working is the end all and be all of human life. I was a workaholic for decades, and all it got me was burnout. When I finally recognized that my additional effort did not equate to better outcomes for my students--that is, my extra work didn't have an appreciable difference on their learning--and began to ease back on what I expected of myself, the guilt was stifling. Having gotten beyond that, I now spend a lot of time sighing about how far away retirement is and how much of my life I spend doing things that don't make any difference at all. And I'm in a job that is probably among the most meaningful jobs one can do, you know?

Sorry, that venting is brought to you by the abhorrence I feel for late-stage capitalism. ;-)

All of that was meant to say that I totally understand your hesitancy to take two weeks off in a row. I think our European friends have a much better work-life balance than we over here ever will, regardless of which side of the northern border we're on. Alas.

I am sending you ALL the good apartment-hunting vibes and hoping that you find a good space soonest. I'm also sending you ALL the cool-weather vibes, as well. Here's hoping that last heatwave doesn't last too long.

[delphi]

No, no apologies - I very much hear you. And I'm exhausted by working in the public service for a government that claims to support labour but not public service labour because, you know, we're not really employees and we're somehow not really the public either, we're just the mechanism that should provide the real public with services as cheaply as possible, no matter what it takes out of us, because it looks bad if there are too many of us or if we look at all comfortable. :(

I know I have it better than most when it comes to how much time I can take off, but it's also a fact that no one else does what I do, so taking the time off just means coming back to more work. We provide a year-round service that doesn't stop when I leave, so if I take two weeks off, that means coming back to a two-week backlog on my desk.

Which, back to the topic at hand...yeah, doesn't always make it the easiest to have healthy habits. :P

[luzula]

Have not commented in some time, but I'm good! I've got a habit going now where I go for a (short) run every other day, and I can feel my stamina improving. Lots of garden work, lots of delicious food. Sleep and weight are both good.

For 50 of my 54 years, the rhythms of my life have been dictated by the academic calendar
Wow, that really shows how much of life is dictated by school! I mean, you're teaching at it, but even for someone who only went to school, that's still a substantial portion of one's life.

[sylvanwitch]

I'm so happy to hear that you are doing well, eating lovely things from your garden and trees, no doubt, and getting good rest. This move has been such a boon for you! YAY!


One of the reasons I remained in teaching through a rough patch some years ago was that I couldn't conceive of having to work every day for all but two weeks of the year, not because I'm lazy but simply because the cycle is so engrained in every aspect of my life, you know?

[luzula]

The welfare state is in general going downhill in Sweden, but we still have 25 days of vacation by law, which is good, and many have more than that.

Do teachers in the US have more vacation than other workers, then?

[sylvanwitch]

Many of my fellow high school teachers have second jobs and/or work through the summer (teaching remedial classes, for example). I used to teach summer school, too. But, my school finishes by mid-June, and we are required back for meetings starting on 8/25, so we do get about 75 days off, which we can choose what we’d like to do with. We also get two weeks at the winter holiday, a week in February, and six or seven days for Easter. I should note that I teach at a private, Catholic high school, so teachers in public schools or in private schools that are not Catholic may have a different experience of time off.

ETA: My math isn’t mathing. I just realized that 75 days includes weekends. I think it’s closer to 55 days, which is still excellent.

[luzula]

Sounds like a good choice! Time off is so valuable.

[lenzes]

It sounds like you had a wonderful staycation! And yay for exercising and walking so much! Blisters are quite painful, though, so *hugs* there. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that your transition back to work is as smooth as possible!

Goal 1 – walking: No walking. It was too hot outside. I'm so ready for summer to be over.

Goal 2 – push-ups: One more incline rep than last week!

[sylvanwitch]

Aw, thank you so much for the good return-to-work wishes. I appreciate your kindness.

Man, I hear you on the summer thing. Our temps are climbing again after a lovely span of cooler days, and I am definitely cross about it. It's not supposed to get TOO hot, though, and I'm hoping it stays reasonable rather than ridiculous.

YAY for an added rep! Go, you! Woooo-hoooo!