Yesterday, I dared to make up my mind to register at a gym in the morning before work, but I couldn't get myself out of bed. Still, I pulled myself together and packed my workout clothes and shower kit before heading to the office. I decided to let the ‘afternoon me’ handle what the ‘morning me’ couldn’t.
Since my commute has gotten longer, working out near home was a complete failure last year. So this year, I’m shifting my focus to gyms near the office instead. Turns out, there are quite a few 24-hour spots around—probably because the area is packed with office buildings.
The whole point of morning workouts was to shower after—which meant I could just roll out of bed, stumble out groggy and gross, and clean up at the gym instead. But since I haven’t been eating lunch properly these days anyway, squeezing in a short workout during lunch seems more efficient than giving up my evenings. Thankfully, my workplace has a relatively flexible lunch hour, which makes this possible.
Before hitting the gym, I set a firm rule for myself: do NOT get talked into buying an overly expensive membership by the persuasive personal trainer! With my solid reputation as a three-day quitter and an honorary donor to gyms everywhere, I can’t even begin to count how much money I’ve wasted on memberships I never used. I held my ground against the trainer’s attempts to win me over as a long-term member, took the free trial PT session, and bought just a one-month membership.
It’s not about being tied down by an appointment with a trainer or feeling guilty over expensive lessons—I want to build a good habit purely on my own terms. If I manage to keep this promise to myself and stay consistent for a month, then I’ll gladly sign up for PT sessions.
Today, I learned a new workout in just 30 minutes during the trial session. But because of the back-and-forth with the trainer, I went a bit over my lunch break and had to dash back to work with my hair still soaked.
There are plenty of gyms in the basement of my office building, but I intentionally chose one across the street to avoid running into coworkers or becoming part of office gossip. That five-minute dash back to the office felt manageable today, but I don’t know how hot this summer will get—if I ever have to do that again in peak heat, I’ll probably arrive drenched in sweat even after a fresh shower. Just imagining that makes me dread how brutal this summer might be.
Anyway, just knowing that I checked off one thing I had planned today makes me feel more fulfilled than yesterday. I did my best today—so I hope tomorrow’s me steps it up, too.