Don’t cry over the spilt milk of schedules
I’ve finished two full weeks of following a goddamn schedule: trying to do yoga, Pilates, exercise, dance, intermittent fasting and sleeping 8-9 hours per night (things I’ve decided are necessary components for my optimal health), and one thing has become incredibly clear: living a healthy lifestyle is like a goddamn full-time job!
This week’s blog ponderings are an exploration of my schedule with an hourly breakdown (nerd alert!), why there are never enough hours in the day, and allowing myself some time to linger and mope upon these frustrations before realizing that perhaps I’ve been focusing on the wrong thing all along.
Some maths
I’m finding that if I’m following my “goddamn schedule”, I can squeeze some work into the day, but very little else. This is particularly true if one item on the list happens to take up a bigger time window. For example, on Monday I went for a long bike ride to drop off a birthday present for my brother and have a socially-distant visit. Cardio for the day? Check! However, this bike ride took up such a big chunk of daytime hours that I didn’t find time for my dance practice until around 2am, and didn’t manage to squeeze in Pilates at all.
I’m starting to get exasperated by people who tell me that "it’s just a matter of SCHEDULING! Set some alarms, nose to the grindstone!”, etc. I suspect the reality for many of these Type-A achievers is that they are simply sacrificing Thing A to squash Thing B into their day, doing all activities in a rushed/mediocre sort of way, or they’ve discovered time travel and are selfishly keeping the formula to themselves (rude). Because no matter which way you turn it, there are only 24 available hours, and (reasonably) the MAJORITY of these hours are taken up by basic necessities. About 14-18 by my calculations. You can fight me on this, but if we are optimizing for mental, emotional and physical health, you’re looking at:
8-10 hrs prepping for/sleeping
1-3 hrs making/eating/cleaning up after meals
1-2 hrs going to the bathroom/showering/basic tidying
1-2 hrs socially exchanging pleasantries with your partner/roommate/family/friends/clients/colleagues (often unavoidable even if you’d rather not)
1-2 hrs running errands/answering emails/dealing with bills, etc.
1-2 hrs of downtime for sanity
Before you point out the obvious, YES of course you could skip or compress some items from the above list. But eventually you need to go grocery shopping/go the the bathroom/talk to your family/sleep/answer your email, and the longer you put it off, the longer it will take when you finally do it (for example: only sleep 4 hours per night for a week = get sick = sleep for a week straight while your body recovers).
That leaves 6-10 hours per day for work, exercise, and any extra-curricular activities. If I could bang out my 4 chosen categories of physical activity (yoga, Pilates, cardio/weights, dance) in one fell (fast) swoop, I’d be looking at a minimum of 3 hours to get it all done (30 minutes for each activity, plus time to get set-up/changed/drink water/rest in-between). Are you still counting? I’m now down to 3-7 hours. Meaning, something’s already gotta give if I have a full day of work to do, and there’s no way I can get the basics in plus work PLUS a social activity or commitment (assuming any of us had parties or friends IRL at this point).
Don’t cry over the spilt milk of schedules
In summary, what I’m learning is that a set schedule on a specific timeline is only useful for robots. I don’t have to go to the bathroom at the exact same time every day! Sometimes my Mom calls at 3pm! Sometimes it rains! Also, looking at the clock the whole time I’m doing my stupid yoga practice feels like a defeat in its essential purpose.
*brief break*
Okay, after arguing with the dictionary for a few minutes (who seems to insist that “timeline” and “schedule” both generally refer to something happening at a specific time), what I’m realizing is that I’ve been messing around with the wrong terminology THIS WHOLE TIME!!!
What I’m looking for is not a schedule. It’s a fucking lifestyle.
