TGIM

TGIM.

Most folks, especially those afflicted with the scourge of youth, are fond of saying TGIF. Certainly the aspect of wild weekends of drunken revelry once dominated our consciousness and motivation, but no more. Whether born of maturity of mutiny, things have changed. Where the weekends once held the promise of a bird in the hand, these days it is the two in the bush that sing more brightly. Because they represent the future, what is to come, the possibility of success. We KNOW what the one in the hand is, yet we long for the empirical presence of the unknown. The unknown in this usage, is the ‘what if’.

What if I trimmed the sugar, saturated fat and liquid carbohydrates ENTIRELY from my diet?

What if I committed to a more challenging workout schedule?

What if I practiced managing my stress in a more effective, non-destructive manner?

What if I got more sleep?

What if I invested more in myself? 

What if I forgave more and blamed less?

What if I became a part of the solution?

What if I practiced presence more, committing to each present moment as they relentlessly pass?

I am so grateful that we have created a medium to meet and practice exactly this. Every day. To illustrate, in our morning spin class today, a long-time client in our other facility, The PowerBarn, sat in her first spin session with us. She is a gifted athlete, a marvelous nurse and a wonderful person. The gleam in her eye is matched only by the sparkle of her smile. She went through the set in her usual enthusiastic style and seemed to be enjoying the ride, and maybe even my attempts at motivation, inspiration, humor and instruction. 

Afterwords she had a few questions. More about the function than the form. I spend a few minutes digging deeper into the subjects of her concern and finally decided to share one of the little secrets of our trade. Doing something live, on stage, is difficult. After a period of time, the run changes as we begin to modulate more, explore new and hopefully better deliveries, seek continual improvement and mature into the part until there is little separation between ourselves and the character we portray. In Hollywood they call it keeping in character. I do that a lot and to keep it fresh. I improvise thematically and ad-lib as the moment and endorphin flow dictate. And boy oh boy do I rely on the music when my mojo fades. 

She is accurate and appreciative with her questions and observations, complementary without patronizing. I explain the standard disclaimer, the groove zone, what I mean by gumption, sweet-spot and relaxed focus. She seems to be grasping the largess and then looks at me quizzically and says, ‘OK, cool, two more, what is 7/120?’ 

Gear setting 7, flat, paired with fast 120 RPM. Good stuff happens there. 

'And at the start when we were warming up you said TGIM, what the heck is that?’

THANK GOODNESS IT’S MONDAY.