It's easy to do nothing during winter.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
It's easy to do nothing during summer too. But more so in winter.
I'm referring specifically to exercise.
And it's a mental thing I think.
Because it's cold and grey and there's less light outside and more heater inside. You could exercise inside, but then it might be too hot because of the heater. So it becomes a delicate hot and cold equation.
Sometimes it's easier to curl up on the couch and watch Netflix, or sport, or your life drift away. Binge TV can feel like that.
Things get fresh and stale at the same time and what used to seem inviting, just don't seem that way so much.
Like jogging, or swimming, or painting the house.
Actually, painting the house never seems inviting no matter what time of year.
Unless someone else is doing it.
And I've often found there's a lot of cracks in the ceiling and peeling paint and atrocious colour schemes you can put up with, if you train your mind just right. By ignoring it.
And that just may be an emerging metaphor for exercise during winter.
Particularly after State of Origin, Wimbledon, Tour De France, Euro 2020, COVID and everything else that's kept you up all hours of the night through July.
You're sleep deprived and tetchy.
Various body organs are complaining about abuse.
And you can't remember certain parts of Ash Barty's magnificent All England triumph last weekend, except you wish she'd wrapped it up in two sets.
Laying on the couch looking at the ceiling you realise it's time to freshen it up.
Not the ceiling, heaven forbid.
But time to become a human doing, not a human bean bag.
Time to make like all those people you've been watching all those hours on TV.
Time to get out there and exercise.
And if that seems out there, let's consider the number one barrier to exercise during winter - the ridiculously imbalanced relationship our mind has with our body.
Mind thinks it's in control all the time, when in reality, body is undeniably boss.
Maybe that's why mind gets moody and poetic about the idea of getting off the couch.
Meanwhile, body cranks it out 24/7, relentlessly, unquestioningly - breathing, digesting, listening to mind's moanings.
It's a bit of a joke really that body has to wait for permission to exercise.
But life is complicated.
Meanwhile, mind treats body like a pet dog - and ain't that a typically arrogant thing for mind to think.
Body probably agrees - that mind is arrogant.
And that body is a loyal servant and handy companion capable of nifty tricks like fetching oxygen robotically for a lifetime.
So long as it gets to go walkies every now and then.
Otherwise body gets all mopey and sad and might stop working properly.
Mind needs to remember that during winter and start working it.
