Time to Change Up Your Game?

photo via x-ray delta one

By Crabby McSlacker

So when it comes to health and fitness, I'm generally a big advocate of showing up and doing a shitty job of things rather than not showing up at all.

Something is almost always better than nothing.  A grudging, sluggish 10 minute workout that you actually DO is way better than the 90 minute kick-ass workout you can't motivate yourself to tackle, right?

And yet, other times, we may have to take a look at our goals, and what we're doing to accomplish them, and ask a tough question:

Is continued half-assed showing up really getting us what we want?

The "showing up" part is always good!  But if months and months go by and despite your best efforts you can't seem to find much sense of flow or joy in your endeavors, and if it all seems unduly effortful and dreary, sometimes you have to question if you're showing up at the right place.

Those invisible chains of habit can bind pretty tightly, and we can fail to realize we have the freedom to wander new roads and visit new destinations.

I.e.:  Do you loathe the treadmill but spend many bitter hours a week trudging on it?  Maybe it's time to show up at Zumba or aqua-aerobics class even if you will likely feel inept and pathetic for the first few weeks.

Or:  What if you are a writerly sort who seeks a creative outlet and have been blogging about health and fitness for eight years, and absolutely love the awesome people you've been connecting with? But let's say, purely hypothetically, that you are no longer finding the post-writing aspect fun and energizing anymore. What if, in your heart of hearts (an organ not documented in any physiological references I've ever heard of, but whatever), you would rather be working on your novel instead?

Phoning It In

photo via James Vaughan

I go through cycles with blogging.  Sometimes I'm full of energy and wild schemes to add features and network and collaborate and build a social media empire and achieve world domination! Other times, I can't seem to motivate to do the minimum to keep up appearances.

Astute readers may have noticed what part of the cycle I've been in lately.

I've already cut back to posting once a week, and have been relying on generous guest post writers to keep this thing afloat.  I've totally ignored twitter and facebook, and have been lame about replying to comments and visiting other blogs.

And yet, it seems even all that isn't quite enough slackitude to allow me to dive in and make the kind of progress I'd like to make with the whole fiction thing.

On the plus side: when I do make time and sit my butt down to work on the novel, I feel weirdly energized and excited. Making shit up, it seems, is an empowering tonic, and has brought back more sense of creativity and flow to my slothful middle-aged brain.

photo via x-ray delta one

Will anyone ever read the stuff I'm working on?  Who knows.  But I'm having hella fun with it.  I'm just not getting around to it often enough.

I'd really like to spend the kind of time it takes to write a novel other people would actually enjoy reading, on purpose, not just dutifully skim through because they're a friend or relative and I've whined and pouted sufficiently to guilt them into it. There are so many ways to write a terrible book! And not nearly as many ways to write a good one. I expect it's going to take spewing out lots and lots of terrible before enough good accumulates to make the whole thing worth reading. Anyway, we shall see.

New Year, New Directions?

Yeah, so it's not January 1st.  But I was born on June 8th in 1960--you do the math. Even if it's not a universally recognized New Year, it is for me. (And for Julianna Margulies and Kanye West and Frank Lloyd Wright among others, although I'm not thinking ol' Frank has much in the way of plans for celebrating).

So long, Frank Lloyd Wright...

Oh crap, that was dumb.  Now I can't get that Simon and Garfunkel song out my head. "Architects will come and architects will go and..." Acck! Shut up with the architects already. 

Anyway. So my birthday present to myself?  Shifting priorities a bit, to align a little more closely to where I'd like to be headed at this point in my life.

(And ok, it's not going to be the only present. Let's not forget the lounging around and the cocktails and decadent desserts and massage, etc, plus all kinds of spoiling that the Lobster generally provides. For me, birthdays are all about self-indulgence).

But yeah, "Happy Birthday to Me" means probably a bit less blogging for the time being.

So What Next for Cranky Fitness and the Slow-Moving Crab?

photo via x-ray delta one

Here's the thing: I don't want to lose you all! I'm extremely fond of all the regular commenters here, (and who wouldn't be as Cranky Fitness commenters are the best in the land)?  Plus, I sense the gentle presence of quite a few kind and clever lurkers. You may not comment, dear lurkers, but I know you are out there and you are very much appreciated.

So some sort of compromise seems in order. I'm thinking somewhere pretty far along the lameness continuum, but still somewhat short of outright blogicide.

A post once a month perhaps?  One in which we all hang out together a little more in the comment section, like in the old days, and I don't scurry off so fast?

Plus guest posts, plus sporadic product reviews and travel round-ups, and perhaps some occasional self-serving Life and Wellness Coaching promotion. Because yes, I still do that, and yes, Cranky Fitness readers make the most awesome coaching clients you could imagine, and yes, it would be pathetically stupid of me not to remember to use the one free and effective marketing forum I have to pitch a service that actually helps people get a lot closer to where they want to be in life.


Monthly Goal Check-in?

For a while there, Cranky Fitness was doing a monthly "Goal Post" in which there was some sort of contrived theme I'd yammer on about for a bit, and then we'd all check in on how things were going with our own goals.  (Or just with our lives in general; not everyone feels compelled to be striving towards things all the time).

I kinda miss that!

via someecards

So, and this is me pleading here... would anyone still be up for continuing to visit Cranky Fitness in in its new even more slothful incarnation, until I get my novel written or get bored with it or get my blogging mojo back, whichever comes first?

Please?

So, does anyone have any goals they're working on?  How's it going? Or, thoughts about game-changing? I.e, is there something in your life you might want to cut out or cut back on in order to put energy elsewhere?