I'm back from vacation...

I'm back from vacation, it's a good thing...sort of. I don't think I ever really want to leave paradise. However, the day after I return, it's as if some magical spell has taken over me and I feel like I never left. So here I am, sighing heavily, but content in returning to the real world.

It's now time for me to let you all in on a bit of information. I work with a personal trainer, twice a week. His name is Howard, I call him H. He gives me two hours a week, two hours that I turn my mind off, two hours of him listening to me, two hours of my learning from him, two hours of torturous, heart-pounding, muscle aching, pleasure.

Clearly, H does not travel with me. So, during vacation, those workouts I would normally run on auto-pilot for I had to create, supervise, execute, and manage myself. Bummer. I realized I really take him for granted.

I'm in a unique position, being a trainer and having a trainer. I know what it is to push myself, I know what it is to eke out that extra rep, run that extra mile. But, I also know how easy it is to skip that extra rep, and go have coffee. On vacation, it was a constant battle between my mind screaming (as though coaxing me to give birth) "push, push, push" and my body saying "sleep, eat, relax, a bag of oreo's won't kill you..."

There I was, in the gym creating the workout for the day; cursing myself for not inviting H to join us for 10 days. You see, the challenge for me wasn't creating the workouts, nor was it really performing the workouts. The challenge for me was the fact that I lost those precious two hours. Even on vacation our minds run, at least mine does. I always have the company or my clients, or a business meeting in the back of my head. I fight to keep it in the back, the thought fights to come up front...and usually I relent and spend a half hour or so in front of the computer or on the phone. Losing those two hours where I actually got to turn my mind completely off made it hard for me to let myself really relax and decompress; which led to a lack of focus and a less than perfect workout. I was disappointed in myself.

Wow...talk about a lazy maze of a back-story designed to bring home one short point: We all need a trainer, just like we all need a vacation. I was gone 10 days, 240 hours, but I was only on vacation for 238 of them. During the course of a regular 240 hours, I'm only on vacation for 2 of them. But those 2 hours, those two hours that I turn my mind off, two hours of torturous, heart-pounding, muscle aching, breath-gasping pleasure, give me a break from myself. Something we all need.

I miss my vacation. 240 hours I was away and for 2 of those hours I wished I wasn't. So like I said I'm back from vacation, it's a good thing...sort of.

--BA
Fit2You Fitness, LLC
www.fit2youfitness.com
Philadelphia and Main-Line In Home Personal Training, Yoga, Nutrition and Corporate Health and Wellness