This week in my quest for immortality, I’ve been saying “yes” to a bunch of new things. I’ve come to the realisation that my fear of looking dumb in front of people has been holding me back from finding new physical activities to love, and so I need a little help stepping outside my comfort zone. So, I called up every friend in my city who enjoys sporty stuff and asked them to come hold my hand as I try a new thing.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be hiking, surfing, paddle boarding, ice skating, golfing, trampolining and playing baseball and indoor cricket. I don’t know if I’ll actually fall in love with some of these activities. Paddle boarding looks pretty ridiculous and I’m skeptical. But I think I’d still like to try, even if it’s just to practice not caring about being shit at a sporty thing.

In other news, I’m continuing to love the heck out of Stop, Breathe + Think, the meditation app that I wrote about a few weeks ago. Did you try it? What did you think? I ended up taking on Dina’s suggestion to pay for access to the k.d. lang-led meditations. NO REGRETS.

Here’s what has and hasn’t been working for me lately:

Working: Rock climbing

The first thing I said yes to was climbing rocks. My friend Mon had invited me to the indoor climbing centre on previous occasions and so I texted her to see if the invitation was still good. It was! I felt safe and chilled with Mon as my guide. She’s also my dentist, so I figured if she can be supportive and non-judgmental re my flossing efforts, then she’ll be supportive and non-judgmental re my climbing efforts, too.

I got pretty into it. I’d been nervous about my lack of upper body strength but it’s true what they say, about rock climbing being mostly about the legs. I stuck to the entry level walls. Sometimes I went all the way to the top and other times just whenever it got too hard. Patience isn’t a strength, and I think climbing takes patience. When Mon reached a difficult peak, she’d stop to consider her next move and hang there ’til she figured it out. Not me. I’d look around, mentally shrug and signal for her to lower me down.

I’m feeling super good and happy about having tried a new physical thing. It was really fun, too. Now, four hours later, my body is starting to ache like it got a somewhat decent workout. We’re going back next month and I already can’t wait. A+, highly recommend.

climb

Not working: Being chill

My brain is a pressure cooker right now and I’m not certain what to do about it. Short meditations have been great at helping me wind down but they’re only effective right before sleep. When I try in the morning and afternoon it only takes a hot second to revert back to being the most highly strung.

I think part of my problem is that I’m a fixer. Usually at the first sign of stress I’ll run to find some practical solution that’ll make everything chill again. I can’t do that this time because there’s nothing to fix. I’m moving overseas which means so many wonderful amazing things. But also some terrifying things, like leaving known comforts like friends and family and pay cheques. Best case scenario is I’ll be unemployed for only three months, and there’s not a damn thing I can do to change it. It’s stressing me the heck out.

So, I’d like to start doing some activities that will hopefully benefit my mental health and ward off nervous breakdowns. This is a brand new focus area for me and I’m not confident about where to start. How do you take care of your feelings and your brain? If you have suggestions please call them out.

Working: Yoga

A few weeks ago I mentioned attempting and enjoying Adriene’s beginner yoga videos. At first I struggled with copying the poses while looking at my computer screen and trying to maintain my balance but that’s starting to get easier. What’s really working for me in terms of motivation is remembering how amazing and straight my spine feels after each workout, and also how adorable it sounds when Adriene says “y’all”.

This week I’m beginning Adriene’s 30 Day Yoga Challenge. Last week a few of you mentioned wanting to do it with me — if you’re still keen, let’s start this week! Any day you like. To everyone else, sorry in advance for banging on about it in the next four posts.

Enough about me. How has your past week in health and wellness been? Is there anything you’ve been kicking ass at or struggling with? Let us know in the comments! And if you haven’t yet heard, we’ve set up a Working On It social group. It’d be pretty cool if you join us.

One last thing:
Last week some of you expressed interest in there being a little more group participation and engagement, so I’ve decided that every now and then I’ll throw down a little challenge that isn’t tied down to a particular type of exercise. And if you’re not into it then no worries! It won’t be for everyone. But if you are keen, here’s this week’s:

Say ‘yes’ to something. I don’t mean force yourself to accept an invitation to do a thing you’ll hate. I just mean that if you’ve ever thought a particular activity looked fun or interesting — a fitness class, a cooking class, a social sports thing, etc — but you’ve never made a move to find out, take the first step this week. Text a friend, do some research, get the ball rolling. Tell me what you’re going to say yes to in the comments.

Coming up next week: :(