Occupation of mind, spirit and body.

Over the past thirty years since I first tried to turn my fitness level around, it quickly became apparent that fitness was not something the average fifty year old woman had much interest in. I did not like being fifty at all but of course it was better than the alternative. I joined a gym first of all with my man, and then started to address my gradual weight gain over those years.

When I had my first assessment at the gym, the manager whose name was Leanne, was most helpful. During a short fitness test interview, she asked me to see how many sit ups I could do; I have always had strong legs, but it appeared that my core strength was poor. To be truthful I am still pretty rubbish at sit ups by the way. Still within just a few weeks I improved at all kinds of other disciplines and soon looked and felt a hundred times better and it was not long, before Steve and I took our running out of the gym and into the countryside.

Then taking a big jump; during the autumn of that year Steve taught me to swim front crawl and the next year, we took up triathlon and I made the discovery that hardly any women of my age were involved in that sport at all. Nearly every event I took part in, found me to be the only over 50 female. That made me the age group winner, just the same as in a one horse race, that one horse scoops the win, the money and cup. In motor racing should all the cars crash or get mechanical problems, the one car left that fly’s past the chequered flag wins. So in triathlon I became something of a motivational figure. I know of one married couple who used to go to watch their children do triathlon, they looked at me enjoying myself enormously, turned to each other and said if she can, we can. And so it went on.

Well enough of blowing my trumpet, any body else want to take a few blasts? OK forget about me and my pesky triathlon.  The world has slid into a time that is far more challenging and I for one think it is most important that we meet this challenge in a positive way or even a more aggressive way. Turn this all over in your head and use the time and make a pledge to come out of this dark time as a better person. Revise something that you used to know, start to learn the language of the country that you had booked a holiday to before the rot set in. Do some indoor exercise or at least start to go for a walk a few times a week but keep away from other people while you do it.

I am missing my family and friends enormously even though in this day and age we can sort of keep in touch can’t we. Telephone, Facebook, Email, Instagram; lets be thankful for those.

Most of my friends are swimmers and some are bikers, runners, or gym bunnies. Then there is my poetry set, some of whom are the same ones as in the first set mentioned. I miss even the idle chatter in the changing room. The jokes and harmless insults too.

It is the last day of March today and I have been indoors now for four weeks apart from a dawn run three times a week. My desk diary tells me that it was on March 5^th that we in the UK learned that our lands first person had died from this deadly disease. Now look at the figure racing up through the second thousand.

None of us know for certain that we will not be one of those statistics before we reach the end of this uncertain time. However, I have been sensible thus far and so will not be casting the runes and waiting for death to come like Queequeg in Herman Melville’s classic tale of Moby Dick. Still the poor chap did go down with the ship in the battle with Moby Dick but the coffin he prepared for his body saved the life of his friend. Amen to all that.

So gloom and doom aside, let us try to gain something in our lives whilst we are not able to go to work, or book tickets for a trip to the theatre, go out to dinner with our friends or even hug our adult children who are living not very far away but also keeping themselves very much to themselves.

What can we do to get some pride, some satisfaction? Dig into your own world to come up with your own answer to that. For myself; yes, I will be practicing my headstands and riding my turbo trainer, making sure that when the time comes when we can travel again and go out whenever we want, that I can to take part in the sport I love once more and love it twenty times more for having survived.

You can write your fingers off, if only keeping the love, spreading warmth into your friends hearts or like one of my friends you can start on writing a book. Another friend will croquet this and that for her family. Some of my friends and I will learn more poems. I can recommend learning something wonderful by heart. I always loved Shakespeare and have found ‘Once more unto the breach’ from Henry V, has burst out of my mouth several times lately and is most suitable to this current battle.

My mum had learned a verse or twenty from her youth and taught me many a nursery rhyme when I was young. They are part of her that I will love forever. I have a couple that I had added to my own list of poems that I like and WILL learn in the fullness of time.  The best used book that I have bought in recent months is; Dancing by the light of the moon by Gyles Brandreth. Above the titles on the cover are the words; How poetry can transform your memory and change your life. The book has over two hundred great poems to love and learn by heart. If you don’t know him, check him out on Instagram where he is currently wearing a knitted jumper that matches the poems he is reciting every day. Most of them are most amusing to lighten the misery of the world right now. Thank you Gyles.

My mum knew this one by heard, it was a favourite and had happy memories of her childhood.

Learn something new, do something great. Take up yoga or chess or something. Be kind, try to say something nice in every short conversation. Be uplifting if you can.