Thoughtful Thursday: Sitting Around

Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, 

you had bloody well better find some way 

that is going to be interesting. 

And you don't do that 

by sitting around. 

~Katharine Hepburn

It is no secret I have a desk job, but some how my brain has taken a while to totally process this hazardous fact of life. I have worked for the same agency for basically the same office for 8 years. The first 6 have been at desks with ergo chairs and ergo desks. I had access to foot rests, wrist rests, mouse pads with wrist support and risers for my monitors (I am pretty tall). Even with all of this I have had neck and shoulder problems from staring at a monitor for a good portion of my day. My current desk is not ergo and does not accomodate monitor risers. I still have a foot rest, wrist supports and an ergo chair. I have used a couple box type in-boxes to raise my monitors a couple extra inches. I only got wise to that after I needed months of chiropractic rehab for my neck and shoulders. Whine, whine, wah, wah, wah. So what I am really here to complain about, er, uh, talk about it how sitting is quite literally killing me.

People with desk jobs have a higher risk for:

• shorter life expectancy
• cardiovascular disease
• metabolic disorders
• pain related to poor posture
• obesity
• diabetes
• repetitive stress

What completely sucks about this is that even if I did an hour of yoga, ran in the morning before work and after work, nothing makes up for being sedentary for 8 hours a day. I have read lots of articles and basically they suggested getting up every 20 minutes to walk for 10-15 minutes. LOL I am not sure what kind of job allows for 10-15 minute breaks every 20 minutes, but mine sure doesn't. I try to walk over to my staff to talk to them when I can vs. the interoffice messaging system, email or phone. Realistically though, I don't have time to walk over to say something I can do by phone. Multitask. Multitask. Multitask.

So the longevity of my grandparents and family before them, all people who spent most of their day on their feet doing some sort of manual labor is not to be for me. My parents currently spend their days on their feet, laboring away. I am not raising a white flag or anything, but geez, it seems like I have pretty hazardous job, no? So while I  have managed to over come my shoulder and neck issues, I can't seem to shake the hip flexor fall out. They are tight. I get hammy and IT band problems when I run and it is not overuse or too fast too soon. I truly believe it's being in a darn seated pose for nearly 8 hours a day. So I am trying to work in a plan to help reduce some of the loss in flexibility and tension in my pelvis.



A lunge with the knee on the ground, hip thrust forward is a great way to open them up. I have another 5-6 stretches that are supposed to be helpful, some I can even do while sitting in my chair at work if you can believe it LOL What I would like to do is incorporate sun salutations into my daily waking routine. I can even do them at break in my office on days I am not wearing a skirt. I forget, that I have my own private office and can pretty much do these stretches daily without interruption on my breaks.

Do you have a desk job? How do you combat this sedentary disease called a desk job?

Why I Kick A$$: Because I was smart enough to earn a desk job, thanks mom and dad for the hard labor to get me here.

Thankful Three:

1. For feeling like doing something again
2. For friends who sign me up for hydrostatic testing
3. For Super Hubby who is supportive through my fitness, health and wellness ups and downs.

Tuesday Tidbit: Clue: This post is not about Christmas

I do want to get rich, 

but I never want to do 
what there is to do to get rich.

~Gertrude Stein

My scattered brain hardly knows where to start. I have so much to say and most times, the time it takes me to organize my thoughts discourages me from even typing up a post. Do you ever feel like that? Yeah, happens to me ALL.THE.TIME. That or I get bummed out by not posting more pictures. Truth is I am not a quick writer, these posts take me forever and pictures tack on just that much more time.

I spent some time listening to Gertrude Stein reading some of her own poetry, a great little poetry site called PoetryFoundation.org. It made me get all lofty thought and dreamy about how I'd like to live. Not because of what she was reading, but because of the kind of life she lead, it was very much her own. I can sometimes feel like I am on a hampster wheel called life. Wake up tired, go to work, come home tired, eat, repeat. I hate when I get into those ruts and I am obviously in one right now. So here is what my dream life looks like.... my husband calls it retirement.

A country house on a few acres. By country, I think more woods than plains. River and trails near by for me to hike, run and hubby to fish. The acreage is for the kids and dogs to have ample safe places to play. Near enough to a town big enough to have a social connection, but not invite too much traffic. I want to wake up lazily, eat, read, exercise, nap, write, eat and sleep. There must be a fire place. What do I want to write? I envision myself blogging more about what, who knows? I want to write short stories, light poetry and opinion columns about work, life and parenting. Notice how there is not job mentioned in this fantasy LOL I want all of these things, but it requires work and I don't really feel like it LOL The same can be said for my fitness goals, can I just have what I want without working for it.

So since this isn't going to happen any time soon, here is what is really happening in my life. I have three books I am reading ...or at least have cracked, but not finished:

• Let's Pretend This Never Happened, J. Lawson
• Gone Girl, G. Flynn
• The Right Questions, D. Ford (compliments of my friend and the existential phase she is going through)

Fit, Fat, Fabulous, Faker??? All of the above:

• I have some weight to lose. I would like to say 15 lbs, but it could be more it could be less.
• I want to fit into my 10's or at least be able to sit without my belly rolling into multiple rolls
• I want to ditch the funky aches and pains that come with too much weight on my bones
• A funny term I hadn't heard in awhile came up and sadly I totally fit this category right now, "Caterpillar" it is when you have so many rolls, like the bra roll, the muffin top and saddle bags etc. that you look like a caterpilliar.
• I signed up for a half marathon in March, so need some miles on these legs.
• A couple weeks ago I slowed down my fast food in take, didn't quit all together, but it's a start
• I started drinking more water and up'ing my fiber intake
• I started taking my fitness classes again and seeing my trainer
• I am coaching jr. high girls basketball. This is where I feel like a fake, we should totally be undefeated, but we are 2-4 I think. Ugh!

Right now the goal is just to get comfortable with putting forth an effort. After spending the year being fairly lazy, starting from scratch is tough. Sure I could jump into a regiment, severely restrict my normal eating habits and get super fit in a matter of weeks. I know I can do that. I know that after a few weeks I would quit. I need to pace myself, I need being fit to feel like a natural part of my routine. I will introduce some jump start activities, but one at a time.

So for as much as I wanted to say, this is kind of it.

I am going to try to blog more, same story I know.
I am going to try and eat better, same story I know.
I am going to try and run more, same story I know.
NEW* I am going to try and read or listen to a poem a day. A quick haiku or a multiple page poem --whatever-- my brain needs some creative stimulation and I like poetry. I got all ambitious and thought I'd post everyday what I read, but I know I am a slacker. Every now and again, I may tweet what I read, but I am not committing to more than that.

Why I Kick A$$: I am doing something, not Earth shattering efforts, but something.
The Big Picture: I may ditch this segment as it's the same sh&$ every time, take it slow, one day at a time, a bad day is just a day, in the long run its about how it plays out, blah, blah, blah
Thankful Three:

1. Afghani Bolani's from Costco, delicious
2. Tamales, Tamales, Tamales... I have an insatiable hunger for my mother's tamales
3. For the Jillian Michaels' Podcasts, I am slow on the uptake, just found them, I don't really like her on Biggest Loser, but I dig her podcasts as background noise when I just hanging out