Be Your Own Inspiration
Originally posted on Apr 24, 2020 on medium.com/@shamandao
A Quarantine Tale
The signs were there with the extra jiggle. An overlapping roll, and the need to hike my sweatpants up a little higher over my stomach.
The quarantine 15 is a real thing from the master breadmakers to the Instagram famous quarantine chefs and you know what? We shouldn’t care if we give ourselves some wiggle room of a pound or five or ten, right? Pun intended. There’s a fine line between ignoring a topic and behavior until it gets out of hand or allowing ourselves to be outside of our comfort zones.
This time is not normal. The entire world is out of their comfort zones. Nothing about today or yesterday or even three weeks ago is normal. But you know what can be normal? Not beating ourselves up or being our own worst enemy during a time where uncertainty is the new norm.
Like many of you, I miss the gym. I do. I miss putting on my workout clothes to jog ten minutes to my gym. I even miss the act of scanning my red rubber bracelet to allow entrance. Where I would skip down the stairs to the underground locker rooms. A place where I once made eye contact with a woman as she eyed me through the mirror, “How you doing?” she said in a Joey-esque, New York accent.
Where I replied in my Southern California gangsta version of, “Where you from?” We became friends from that moment forward.
These are the memories that came flooding back to me when I laid on my yoga mat and stared at the ceiling this morning. Fifty four days in isolation. Should I do a YouTube workout? Or should I snack? The options were endless.
What I really wanted were weights. I wanted dumbbells. I wanted to tone up my body. As I closed my eyes to ponder my endless options, I quickly opened them back up. I looked over my shoulder at the 10-liter gallon water jugs lined up in my hallway.
1 liter = .26 gallon
10 liters = 2.64 gallons
1 gallon = 8.34 pounds
10 liters = 22 pounds
Ladies and gentleman, I felt the heavens open up above me. A choir sang in the distance as the birds chirped a symphony. I had my own DIY gym for weighted squats and bridges, water jug swings, power clean lifts, and chest presses. I felt invigorated. I felt hope. I felt inspired.
I felt my physical body thank me after the weighted squats we did. Squats with twenty-two pounds on my back and hope in my heart. I decided to grab a three-year-old picture of myself to place as my iPhone wallpaper. That picture represented a time where I walked, ran, bicycled almost every other day in Florence, Italy. I made a pact with myself after my water jug workout to be my own inspiration by knowing who I am, what I have accomplished, and can get back to at any given time.
I became my own damn inspiration today. I hope you do too.
I understand how easy it can be to lose a sense of self-worth and determination as each of our days blends in with the next. So whatever you need at this moment to help motivate you out of any type of lower vibrational energies or emotions, do it, find it, ask for it.
This time does not define me as it is something that is happening outside of me, same for you. Today, I choose to be my own inspiration and I know you have something in your own treasure trove that you can reflect back on. A treasure to give yourself a nudge of motivation, a jab of encouragement, and a spark of hope. I hope you are well and safe.
Blessed be.