STORMY MONDAY (are you blues?)

Was it E.C., (Eric Clapton)?  Allman Brothers Band?  Who penned “Stormy Monday”?  B.B. King?  Come on, now, STORMY MONDAY!  How about you, did you?  How is your Monday?  Did you look forward to it; was your weekend long enough; ready to go back to “work”?  Bottom line; I am.  I LOVE  Mondays!  I’ll give you an idea why; I work with people, all kinds, in a lot of different ways.  Starts with fitness; 6:30 (that’s am, folks!), I work with some pretty dedicated people.  Some might say, “Who would work out at 6:30 am, with a smile on their face, (I don’t know, maybe it’s a grimace!)?  My answer would be, “Who wouldn’t”, if it wasn’t for the people that I train, it would be me,  getting up and doing that.  I know, I know, it’s EARLY; but what better way to start your day, or your week, by feeling good!  When you’re done, wouldn’t it be nice to say, and experience, that wonderful feeling of doing something that is healthy for you, that you know is good for you, of your own, commitment to YOU? Really, pick YOU!  Pick yourself!

Let me tell you something, the opportunity of a lifetime is to PICK yourself.  A lot of people are are waiting to be “picked”; jobs, relationships, habits…..it’s all the same.  Quit waiting to be picked; quit waiting for someone to give you permission; quit waiting for someone to say that you are officially “qualified”… YOU PICK YOURSELF.  You are qualified; tell you what,  put a blank piece of paper on your wall, and write on it “I am qualified”!  In life, know that your debts are paid, in your soul, all debts are paid, we’ve all been there.  At some point, we’ve all put some years in, in our lives.  If we haven’t reached that “goal” that we have been working on, so what?  Think of all the things that you have done, from everything that you DID do.  Did you do a  one day get away?  A weekend get away?  A week, a month, maybe a nice dinner; that’s what YOU did, you deserve that treat, you picked yourself, enjoy it!

How many people do you hear say, “OOOOH, IT’S MONDAY!  All day long, it’s Monday”!  I say, bring it on, I love Mondays!  I love to start other peoples  weeks out on the right foot, so to speak, with workouts.  Then I go do my little volunteer gig up at UCLA, speaking to other patients who have had neurological surgery, just like I did.  You might ask why I do this; because I “qualified” myself to do this, PICKING myself to do this;  you can do this.  Anything you do, you are qualified, trust me.  Had I gone to school to talk to other people about their head trauma,  that answer would be no.  But really, I guess my real answer would be yes.  Not books, but let’s say I’m really qualified in the “on the job training”, better than books anyway!  I’ve been there, TWO brain tumors, I know what you’re (patients) feeling!  I know the pain, so basically, I’m your support group; so let’s have a talk about how you feel!  What I’ve found out is that in some ways , everyone needs a support in their lives; one way or another.  It could be a quiet, talk support; it could be a workout support session; it could be music, there are so many things that we call support, but it is needed.  In the hospital,  there are people who don’t like to talk to other people  about their “situation” because they don’t think others would know of their pain, both physically and mentally; but when I tell them about my “situation”, it’s like a heavy weight is lifted off their shoulders, and they talk,  a lot.  Man, I love that, such a relief for them, and me!  It’s like my business, training;  in training, I’ve only been doing this activity for about 40 years(!), as a business for 28 years, I’ve been certified so many times, so I’m “qualified”.  Bottom line; in everyone’s life, they are qualified to do SOMETHING, something they enjoy doing; let’s make it even better, something they enjoy to do on Mondays!  Now, wouldn’t that be nice to now looking at Monday’s to be your great day, (although every day should be great!).  Whatever you decide to do, it not only puts an enjoyment in you day, but it certainly puts enjoyment in another persons day, also.

Now back to training, (oh, I’m all over the place,here!).  What would help you pick up your training support?  Is it ten minutes, twenty minutes, maybe thirty?  How much time is that in a day?  Minimal.  Ok, let’s break this down, so your ten minutes won’t seem to fill up your day: you’ve been at your computer for a couple of hours, arched back, neck down; get down on the floor, and give me as many pushups as you can in 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, do another 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, and then do this one more time.  Let’s see, 20+20+20=1 minutes; 10+10+10=30 seconds, so, my questions is, can you give me one-and-a- half minutes of fitness?  You can?  Good!!!  Now, we’re getting somewhere; we’ll get into other things as we go along next time, but do this!  If you get antsy about this, do all of this 2-3 times a day, and you, my friend, will start to feel better, not just because of the push-ups,  but  because you picked yourself first, to be first, in your support group!  Awww, now I’m feeling better.

Now, back to the top: it’s T-BONE WALKER who wrote “Stormy Monday”.  Now go and enjoy your Monday, without the blues!