34 Sit Ups

I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed. 

(George Carlin)

Dangerously Empowered

Yesterday, I watched this video about starting a running program and training for a 5K.

I was taken by the author's assertion that making a change, such as beginning to run, can spill over into the rest of one's life, and the results may be dangerously empowering. 

I love this term and it has been sitting in the forefront of my consciousness ever since. Although, of course, dangerously here means something like deliciously or thrillingly. This is what we are hoping for, right? Not just the sit ups, but also the magical empowerment to live a life that is full of our most desired experiences. 

I wrote at the start that I would like to travel and make the world a better place, as well as be strong enough to do 365 sit ups. I'm not done, I guess that's the point for me. And the stronger I am, the better I will be able to continue existing into very old age--traveling, making art, and maybe even living more than several dangerously empowered decades. 

I particularly love the idea of being dangerously empowered and 85-years-old. 

If Sit Ups Hurt Your Lower Back

Here are two options. First, crunches, said to be safe for lower backs, while still delivering "six pack abs." 

Not surprisingly, this gentleman's abs and mine are very similar after my fifty sit ups the other day. 

And, for those of you still pained by crunches. There's always this technique for getting six pack abs. I think I could do this. I think I could. 

Reading List

DAUGHTER: Haven't you ever heard of the Little Engine That Could? 

ME: Who? 

DAUGHTER: I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. 

Fifty Sit Ups

So technically I was only supposed to do thirty sit ups today, and I did. Then, I thought, why stop there? Why not keep going? So I paused and then did twenty more. And I didn't die, although I might have sounded like I was dying, because my daughter yelled from the next room, "Don't kill yourself!"

My new technique is to enthusiastically say to myself (internally) "I can't do this" after counting off each sit up, as if "I can't do this" actually means something along the lines of "you are amazing! you are doing it!" Is this what people mean when they talk about embracing the no? (Or maybe that is embracing the now..?) Anyway, this is all staring to seem very narcissistic. Who cares? Thirty sit ups. Fifty sit ups. 365. 

MY BELLY: I care. ME: I wasn't talking to you, was I. MY BELLY: You said who? The answer is, me and my low pain threshold. ME: Some day you'll thank me. MY BELLY: Don't count on it. 

27 Sit Ups

Two strange things about daily increasing sit ups. First, every day the additional sit up absolutely kills me. I can barely do it and afterwards must groan very loudly and collapse dramatically onto my back. But, the next day, yesterday's sit up is cake, and the new additional sit up is the impossible one. This has been true every day since the eleventh sit up. 

Second, after every sit up, my mind tells me I can't "do this." It's like this: One (I can't do this). Two (I can't do this). Three (I can't do this). And so on and so on. I think this is so weird. Why is my mind in charge of telling me I can't do sit ups, as it seems to be? And what else is it telling me I can't do? 

This reminds me of when I gave birth to my youngest daughter and my oldest daughter was in the birth room. For a time, I said, in a quite calm and reasonable voice, "I Can't Do It! I Can't Do It!" This went on for something like six hours, until miraculously, I did it. 

My oldest daughter, who heard all of this with some adult intervention (strategic trips to the ice machine down the hall), would for weeks, whenever she was crying over a scraped knee or hurt feelings, instead of saying "Owww!" or "it hurts" would say "I can't do it! I can't do it!" 

Is this how it starts? 

Five Sit Ups

One thing I really like about sit ups is that while I am sitting up, my field of vision is filled with the eucalyptus trees out the window--lovely, slight breeze--and while I am lying back down, I see the ceiling--smooth, white like the tundra, with nothing to make me feel like I need to go tidy up. 

Day Four

No Sweat. Four sit ups are still pretty easy. Takes about ten seconds. It's just enough time to wonder why my eleven-year-old daughter likes listening to Celine Dion *and* will.i.am. 

Then stand up and move on. 

Getting This Chestnut Out of the Way (why isn't everything as easy as 3 sit ups?)

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change; 

Courage to change the things I can; 

And wisdom to know the difference. 

Living one day at a time; 

Enjoying one moment at a time; 

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 

Taking, as He did, this sinful world

As it is, not as I would have it; 

Trusting that He will make all things right

If I surrender to His Will; 

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life

And supremely happy with Him

Forever and ever in the next. 

Which would you rather be, thin or warm?

From the Washington Post: In addition to eating less and exercising more, people may one day be able to stimulate their bodies to get rid of stored energy -- in the form of ordinary fat -- purely as heat. "It is, in a sense, the discovery of a new organ..." Seriously? 

It's called brown fat and when you are cold, it is activated to create heat and burn calories. So, if you are chilled to the point of shivering, then you will be thin. So much for hot yoga and jogging in plastic wrap. 

(I'd rather be warm). 

Day Two

(This is actually really stupid.)

One. 

(I can't do this.)

Two. 

(I can't do this.)

Thr...

(Oh.)

Am I the Chimp or the Dog?

Their names are Pan-Kun and James. They sit up. 

(Today, I'm the dog). 

Why Sit Ups?

I've been thinking about how people change their lives, what is possible to change, what is here forever. We (okay--I) cling to the belief that one can change most anything, really, and with that change create a new life, or a better life, or something exciting, interesting, fabulous. And then there is global change, as opposed to personal selfish change. Because we do want to change the world, end hunger, and save the planet. But, can we change? Can we really change? Sometimes I feel so powerless yet also surrounded by immense clouds of utter hopefulness. 

One longed-for change, I wish I traveled more. Once, I went to the Czech Republic and it was so great. I loved everything about being in Bohemia: the dumplings, the music, my new friend Eduard, the crazy art everywhere. The quiet beauty of not understanding a word anyone said. My Kafka Museum T-shirt. I would love to live a life that involved traveling to new places all the time. Instead, I move across country rather often, but do not travel out of the country much at all. Someday I think I will change that--before I die certainly. But, will I? Can I? 

I don't know. 

Also, I kind of want to get my stomach muscles back in shape after having kids (okay, it was seven years ago, but who's counting?) For some reason, I kind of want to be a person with a strong core and flat abs, who also travels to great, new places, and does something to make the world a better place. This feels a little random, possibly shallow, but somehow do-able. Maybe if I take it one sit up at a time. 

With this in mind. I walk into my bedroom, lie down on the floor with my feet tucked under the bed, I clasp my hands behind my head, and sit up straight. Then I lie down again. 

Done. My first sit up. But, 365? This will definitely hurt.