Tuesday, January 31, 2012

What helped a bit

Last week, I went with my friend Stephanie to the Y for a "demonstration" of their Chicago Swing Dance class (which turned into a brief lesson).  Though traffic is not awesome on the way to her house, and the music the dance is done to (R&B) is not my favorite, it was fun enough that I signed up (and, more importantly, paid) for six weeks of classes.  Yesterday was the first real class--and boy, was it hard to leave the house at 6pm on Monday.  The combination of having paid $60 and having told Stephanie I'd go with her is what got me out the door, rather than still on the couch reading reading reading.*

I'm very glad I went.  While I'm still not thrilled with the music, class was fun--we went over the basic step again (which I had mis-remembered--it's actually 1,2-and-3, 4-and-5, 6) and learned several varieties of turns.  And, I got to hang out with Stephanie and her toddler, which was fun.  And importantly, when I came home and tried to read again,** my brain was so much clearer.  It was the walking meditation experience again.

So today, though it's my day off, I'm going to campus to sit in on a class that's reading Mayra Montero's The Messenger, which I wrote an article about.  I'm happy that I got out of bed before 11 today (because on a day off, that doesn't happen as much as I'd like it to), so that I have time to do an exercise video.  If I can continue to condition myself to understand that exercise/activity makes be feel better and think more clearly, I think it will hopefully overtime become more integrated into my routine.

I was going to write "and then hopefully despondent days like yesterday will be rarer," but I don't know that I want that to be true. Rather, I think my being honest about when things aren't great is ultimately good for me (and something I'm not great at being frank about).  So, for now, days like yesterday are just fine.

*The reading for this class I'm auditing is really something.  I had to pull out a binder for all of the readings, because a folder wouldn't contain it all.  The readings for Thursday are about an inch thick, an inch of history and theorizing southern and queer studies.  I'm glad this is all I'm taking!

**Thank goodness, I've only got one article left to read.  It's a lot!

No comments:

Post a Comment