gym talk – hannah ananas

Birthday

Today was/is (depending on where one is in the world right now) my birthday. Thank you to my mother and to my father for having and making me.

Now, people at school totally forgot about my birthday, and that’s okay. A friend was even giving me a hard time about details for an upcoming trip while I was in the middle of my birthday lunch at a nice little Nepalese restaurant, and that’s okay, too. I wasn’t looking too forward to all of that.

I have been working on my mental and physical health lately, and one part of that has been going to my gym more often. Instead of once or twice or zero times a week, and only for, perhaps, an hour, I have been going more like five to ten hours a week, attending all sorts of fun classes (boxing to ballet, angels training [a misleading name for the crazy-hard workout that comes with it] to yoga [yes, normal yoga]). The gym is all women, and we all have to have nicknames, so as to create a close-knit space (instead of the formality of Japanese culture and always using last names), so it makes for a really great environment.

That being said, I was really looking forward to getting to my gym today. Dinner with a friend was something great on the list, too, but the gym had the extra excitement of helping out my physical health while I enjoyed its being my birthday.

I knew that some of the ladies knew that today was my birthday, and so I was excited to be going somewhere where I could feel the love, so to speak, for my birthday. Just after I walked in the front door, the lady at the desk wished me a tentative English, “Happy Birthday…?” A huge grin and verbal thanks assured her of the success of her endeavor.

As I was changing for class, I heard some English being practiced in the common area, “How old are you?” So, I suspected I was about to be asked this question when I got into class a few minutes later.

What I did not expect, however, was to walk into my step class of older Japanese ladies, and for them to break into song, singing me “Happy Birthday”. And in English! I actually started tearing up a bit, it was so wonderful. If I had been hoping for some welcoming love here, I certainly found it, I found myself thinking. Essentially, it was perfect.

After class, a number of people kept wishing me a happy birthday and talking to me about this and that. Before the next class began (yoga), I made a point to interrupt the delighted chatter of the older ladies from step class, and to thank them especially for their singing and well-wishes. And I did it all in Japanese, and successfully. They were just so wonderful.

And then they all started asking me how to say the name of a bicycle that has a motor attached to it. Amidst all the Japanese, I declared that I’d have to do some research, because I could only think of electric bicycle and motorized bicycle.

But that’s not quite the point. The point is, I suppose, that step class is amazing – you could do yourself quite well by joining one wholeheartedly today. 🙂

Also, all of my thanks to all who played a part in my coming to be. 🙂

Happy Birthday to me. Watch out, World! 😀
Post-a-day 2017

Winter, Wait – Weight, Workout

Tonight, at the gym, I did a workout class that I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. It was painfully hard, that class. And not necessarily because the workout is a difficult one. Yes, the workout was difficult and fast and rather nonstop. But the hardest part of it was how my usual self could have kept up with it.

Right now, I don’t even want to weigh myself, because I know I haven’t been gaining any muscles lately, and I have definitely gained a whole extra layer of fat throughout a good portion of my body. I have been through various weights, for sure, but I typically have a point which I never pass. I am almost certain that I am past that point now. I have never had the peeping of my belly be an issue before, because my belly has always looked nice. Even when it had extra weight to it, it was a nice, smooth, ladylike curve. It suggested a bit of plumpness to it, but still looked healthy. Today, when I raised my arms in a stretch at work, I was saddened by the sight. No longer do I have the cute belly peeping beneath the raised shirt. It isn’t terrible, of course, but cute and feminine are no longer ways to describe it.

So, in this workout class this evening, as I was in a tremendous physical and mental struggle, tears were brimming at one point. I initially thought to fight them off. But then I realized that that was exactly why I was here in the class – because this kind of thing is hard for me right now, and I want to deal with that. So, I let some tears have their say, and I put extra effort into what I was doing. I was lame and slow for a lot of it, I couldn’t even do one of the exercises (going to talk with the teacher about how it’s meant to be done, and see what stretching would help me best to do the exercise), and, by the end, my whole face was flushed and I could barely breathe or move. But I stuck it out. I even stayed for the relaxation yoga class afterward, even though I was exhausted (mentally, physically, and sleep-wise) and ready for bed.

I even talked with one of the girls afterward about my wanting to come more often to the gym, as well as my struggle to do so (being depressed really does suck). Today’s been a sort of up day for me, and I’m hoping to have a similar one tomorrow, so that I might start myself on a habit with going to the gym on days when I’m not already working just down the street from it.

Peace and Love, and Goodnight, folks. 😀

Post-a-day 2017

Women’s Gym Buzz

Something that I noticed today, was how our mutual love of human connection, and the pursuit of it, help build connections and relationships among one another. Allow me to explain with the circumstances of today’s noticing. Be forewarned, that this might just be a female thing… and it might not be…, but I’m going to write about it from the female perspective and such.

At the gym this evening, one of the ladies was asking politely about me, various this-and-thats. However, the moment one of her questions led to my explanation of a boy I’ve somewhat recently met, the polite, casual interest of the surrounding ladies/girls turned electric – anyone could have felt the excitement and intrigue, as eyes, ears, and smiles all focused on me and my wacky story (yes, it is actually wacky, I promise).

In those few sentences, polite acquaintance took a sharp turn toward a friendship sort of connectedness. These women/girls became invested in my life and the outcome of my story. They can hardly wait to hear what happens next, they even checked schedules for when they next would see me, so they could plot out what all could happen between tonight and then, already in preparation for more of my story.

And the best part is that we all know the story might go nowhere. However, we so care about intimate human connection, that we want everyone to have it, and we can enjoy others’ pursuit and acquisition of it. (Yes, perhaps there are a handful of people who are so angry and sad and lonely without human connection, that they wish no one else to have it. However, in everyday circumstances, we are nearly as excited for a friend finding a boyfriend (and half the time for anyone, really – have you never rooted for that guy or girl in a film?), as we would be for ourselves.) These ladies/girls are so incredibly excited for my potential situation, that they can hardly stand it – one even did a sort of little dance, and they all were cracking up laughing, with joy and excitement at my whole situation (as I explained it in broken Japanese (though, to my delight, successfully!)).

Anyway, I just wanted to share how beautiful I find that whole event from this evening. We went from a group of ladies/girls who happen to be at the same gym, to a group of people tied together by the common bond of love. As human beings we have bio-philia – we love living beings, and especially other humans. And it’s so fun getting to share that love with others (thereby satisfying part of that bio-philia by bringing us closer with those others around us) as we pursue another form of love and connection in our lives.

Gosh, it would be really fun if this whole story of mine turned out totally fabulous – what a tale to tell, it would be! ;P

I'm part of Post A Day 2016