Monday, July 19, 2010

Mindful Partying

I have to make a confession. I was not always a sporty, healthy kind of girl. In fact, before I met The Man, I was the ultimate Party girl. And for the first 3 years we spent together, we were living on a tiny party island where there was always something to celebrate. Alcohol was flowing, cigarettes were part of my everyday life and if sports was once a big part of The Man’s life, it was now nothing more than a memory... After 3 years of a rather unhealthy life, we decided to get a bit healthier and started to run. For a while. Then life caught on, and we slowly gave up. But we tried again. Then gave up. A few times. Then we were offered another job and finally left the party island for another part of Thailand. We thought it would then be easier to do sports. Parties became exceptional but our jobs were far more demanding and we had a lot more responsibilities. We decided to start exercising again, encouraged by the fact that there was a gym 5 minutes away from work, but in the end we didn’t exercise nearly as much as we had planned. The truth is that life will always be in the way and you will always think you don’t have the time, but it is your responsibility to make time for it. I understood that when I found the website www.6changes.com. Now I exercise everyday, I am even preparing for a sprint triathlon. But to tell you the truth, the party girl in me is still here, and when we go to a party, I can hardly keep her at large. I still enjoy a few drinks, and even if don’t smoke like I used to (a pack a day), I still enjoy the occasional cigarettes. The problem is that when I start drinking and smoking, I cannot stop. I can down a bottle and 2 packs of cigarettes in one evening. No party, no problem, but I’m not gonna avoid all the parties to stay away from unhealthy behaviors all my life ? We are 4 weeks away from the race, and this weekend happen to be one of The Man’s best friend birthday pool party. A little bash in a huge farm in the middle of Pennsylvania that lasts for 3 days. We got there late of Friday night and enjoyed a few drinks and even a few cigarettes. Usually when I party, my brain switches off, and I just drink and smoke without even realizing it. This time I tried to focus and appreciate every sip of my wine and every drag of my cigarettes. And I ended up smoking and drinking a lot less. The next day we even managed to get up quite early and go for a run. Now the run was extremely tough on me because my friend happens to live in a very hilly region. But I made it. We spent the day by the pool and yet another challenge was waiting for me : mindless munching... Everybody brought a lot of chips and dips and real food was to be serve later during the day. I had a few chips, but nothing out of hands. The huge pitchers of fresh water with lemons and mint that my friend kept bringing on the tables help tremendously... By the evening, I just had a few chips, a real (although not exactly light) dinner and a couple of drinks, and was well hydrated and prepared for another party night. Again, I focused on appreciating drinks and smokes and that kept me away from any excess. We left the party on Sunday a lot fresher than most people, some of them nursing pretty nasty hangovers...

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