Larocque and Roll

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

I should have gone skiing this morning, but I didn’t.

I planned to. I talked to people about the fact I was, and then I woke up this morning… I don’t know. Something just didn’t feel right. My back was a little achy, my shoulder and hip hurt, and my ankle has been bothering me all week [1] It took a while to crawl out of bed, but eventually I did, resolving to at least make an effort to get out. And the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea – I didn’t go last weekend because there were races, and I can’t go on my day off this week because I’ll be in Toronto at the library conference.

However, the final straw was not being able to get my contact lenses in – being outdoors in this weather while wearing glasses is a guarantee that I’ll have to stop every 30 seconds to defog them. It’s the only time I wear my contact lenses [2]

And then there are the whole other host of reasons I came up with to justify not making the effort to get ready and get out. I have to clean the kitchen after spending yesterday dyeing yarn with Rhiannon. I need to pack for the week, and do the last of the laundry. The sweeping isn’t going to do itself unless I’m the one wielding the broom. Yet, these are all things I could have accomplished this afternoon if I had still gone skiing this morning.

What it boils down to is a whole bunch of excuses for not going. And that’s okay – so I didn’t go today. I’ll go next weekend. I walked to work almost every day last week, and I’m going to be doing a lot of walking this week. So maybe I didn’t eat as well as I could have this week – the times I ate junk this week are outnumbered by the times and amounts I ate something healthy. Next week it might be more challenging to stay away from the junk since I’ll be away from home but I know what to avoid and I know that I can make healthy choices.

However, it’s a decision – both the one not to go and the one to accept that I didn’t go and just move the hell on – that took a long time to accept. It’s not always good to rationalize not doing something you really should do (like exercise), but sometimes it helps to look at the reality of a situation and accept it for what it is.

[1] Stupid years of being a varsity jock and thinking I was indestructible!
[2] I really like my glasses, and while there are a lot of good reasons to have laser surgery to correct my vision, it’s not something I’ve considered for myself.