Rick and I joined a tennis club in June, but except for playing tennis with Rick, I have not "stepped up to the court" by myself for years. While writing my blog on Wednesday about discovering and doing the things you love, I made my decision then to participate in a cardio tennis class today. If I had not committed to the class in advance, I would not have gone this morning and missed out on a wonderful work out doing something I enjoy. Thus, making decisions and committing to them ahead of time pay off. Coming up with excuses not to go the day of is easy, but if you or someone else is counting on you to follow through, then it usually makes going a 'done deal'.
For instance, with Rick out of town until tomorrow, I decide on a project or two to do and stay up late to finish before he comes home. Organizing, tossing, and cleaning my closet has been the project of choice. Each time I get rid of clothes I do not wear, I realize "less is best". I need to be better at buying the right clothes in the first place or stick to window shopping. (Rick is jumping for joy at just the thought that I might decide to shop less.) Even going to bed after one in the morning, I still had not finished my closet, which has so much more than clothes in it.
For just a moment when I woke up this morning, I hesitated about attending the tennis clinic, but because I already had signed up and had made the commitment not just to the instructor but to myself, I made my way there. Five of us participated in the clinic, which included so much cardio, my body is feeling it now. Toward the end, while hitting a backhand from the baseline, then another at mid-court, and still another at the net, I skipped the stepping-between-the rope exercise, and the pro yelled, "No short cuts." There are 'time outs' so I had a water break twice when others did not as the day was already warm: 93 degrees this lovely afternoon. Time outs, or pauses, are good to rest and collect my breath or thoughts or both. Short cuts, on the other hand, only hurt myself because I won't be able to keep up unless I do the work. Same is true in other areas of life.
Is my closet done yet? Absolutely not, but it will be. My other projects after tennis while Rick is away included planting flowers in the front yard that the deer won't eat (yes, half the tops of the pansies are gone) and to add Halloween decorations to the fall ones already displayed. Those projects done, I relaxed in a lounge chair chatting with my dear friend next door. After writing my blog, the closet is next! I would love to be Samantha in the TV show Bewitched to be able to twinkle my nose and have everything put back in its place neat and tidy, but there are no short cuts!
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