Day 17 Hanging On, Barely

All I wanted to do today was NOT GO TO YOGA. That’s it. I had no other agenda.

However, it’s not called a challenge for nothing, and I hate giving up.

“Just to let you know,” I said to Tony, the instructor, as I dragged myself into the studio this afternoon, “I do not want to be here. I’m tired. TIRED. Do you understand?”

This man has a toddler and a new baby at home. But I still felt I had to impress upon him the depth of my tiredness.

“I’m here,” I continued, “so it counts. Even if I don’t do anything.”

(Reminds me of a conversation I had with my husband recently, but I digress.)

“You might be surprised,” said Tony. “Go in strong and see what happens.”

I lay down on my mat and prepared to stay there for the full 90 minutes. It felt so good. So warm. So quiet.

But once he came in and began the class, peer pressure made me get to my feet with everyone else. I didn’t feel too bad, so I kept going. Before I knew it, we were on my worst posture, the Standing Head-to-Knee compression pose. I did the first set, then said to myself, “Self, you’ve done more, waaaayyy more than you planned. You can sit out the second set. I won’t judge you.”

And just as the thought slivered through my sweat-soaked brain, Tony came to stand beside me. “For energy,” he whispered, in between instructions to the class.

How did he know??

And that’s how I ended up doing an entire class when I thought I couldn’t.