1: Individual Extractivism
I have decided to start keeping a public diary of my own training that I will share with clients and anyone else who is interested. I will try to keep entries short and to write without thinking too much. I hope that this will serve a few purposes:
A form of accountability to make me more likely to stick to a consistent training habit in the longer-term
A place to write down thoughts about training, list resources I’ve found useful, and share results of things I’m experimenting with
A demonstration that sticking to a training routine can be difficult and that progress is relatively slow, but that it can be very rewarding and make a considerable difference to one’s mental and physical condition
A regular writing practice
I have fallen out of the habit since lockdown began and have noticed a deterioration in my mood, focus, strength and feelings about my body. At the moment my weekly routine looks like this:
Bristol Co-operative Gym Strength Training A-Z class, though I never work very hard in this at all
Bristol Co-operative Gym HIIT From Home class on Wednesdays
Three runs a week, two longer ones in heart rate zone 2 and one shorter one in zone 3
This may look like plenty, and in terms of fitness it is, but there is no progressive strength training and I’ve really noticed the impact of not having that on the strength and shape of my body.
The runs have been an absolute lifesaver and I have noticed more than ever their ability to shift my mood. I think a recurrent theme in these entries will be the fact that the lockdown has enabled to be much more aware of the things that affect my mood and energy levels. With fewer variables I have really noticed the impact of things that I previously let be de-prioritised - seeing friends, being outside, quietness, reading, great art, delicious food. It’s all very obvious but it’s been made clearer to me in these recent months.
I sorted through my Downloads folder over the weekend and found a document from 2018 listing things that I wanted to do more of - many of them were the same as those things listed above. Again, it’s obvious, but it’s still terrifying that it’s possible to spend two years not really doing them, and for the idea of doing them to still feel like a revelation…
I have been thinking of this idea of “extractivism” at an individual level. It’s a term that is used to describe humans’ relationship to our planet - that we remove resources without considering how they are to be replenished. Of course, as we all know, this is unsustainable. General Adaptation Syndrome tells us that we each have a single pool of resources to draw from every day, and that any sort of stress (emotional, exercise, work, noise etc.) draws from this. If we balance that stress with appropriate recovery, we can adapt and improve. If we don’t, we deteriorate. I feel as though I have been taking an extractivist attitude towards my mental and physical resources.
I have begun this process by making myself a daily tick-list of rewarding things that I never regret doing, and which I often remind myself to prioritise. I will aim to spend at least a minute on each thing, just to get into the habit of it and to avoid it becoming another form of extractivism, though most days, of course, I will spend longer than a minute. I have been doing it for a couple of weeks so far and have noticed a difference in how balanced I feel - that I am topping myself up. I have also noticed that I am wasting less time on things that really drain me, like social media, and also doing more of the work I need to do.
Here’s the list:
Keep a diary
Do some form of training / pay attention to my body
Study / read
Talk to, or do something for, a friend
Do something for fun / for myself
Do something in the garden
Don’t drink booze unless you’re with people and it’s a really special event
Prepare some food
Tidy up a bit
Attend to e-mails / Whatsapp / Facebook etc., just to stop them building up…
Bit of reading or writing for the Whybrary
Plan the next day quite specifically
I have this in permanent marker on a small whiteboard and tick it off as I go. I seem to respond well to ticking things off lists.