Reading, Running, Writing; Stumbling into a Sustainable Groove

Everyone has experienced the groove at some point or another; that wonderful zone where healthy activity seems to be habit, and it’s hard to imagine ever giving it up.

Reading is an example. I know I like to read, but its been a rocky relationship. In the past, I would from time to time find myself reading. I would somehow have gotten myself to sit regularly with a book in my lap, and really get into it. The energy created by reading one book would sometimes even carry over, or launch me into a second, or maybe even a third, and reading would continue for a few weeks or even months. But more often than not, months have passed during which I identified as a reader, but felt a private shame at not actually doing it.

This is a fairly old post that I never published. I assumed I would get back to it because I felt like I had established a new routine that would last forever. I had been running to work for several weeks, and the ripple effect on other healthy activities was amazing, and seemed like a perpetual motivation had kicked in. However, as a college teacher my schedule changes radically every 15 weeks or so, and sure enough, after a long summer of not commuting to work and a major home renovation that left me with a significant chronic injury, the routine came to an end. I still run to work, but a lot of things have shifted and it has become harder to really make it a routine.

So, in the spirit of my ongoing project on Sustainable Lifestyle Engineering, this serves as an interesting specific example of getting into a sustainable groove, but also the struggle to keep doing things we know are healthy, and even inspiring. In general, I find that when I am in a groove, it takes little to no effort to keep up a healthy practice of any sort, but over the long term, Sustainability takes some work.

One of the very first changes I noticed when I began running to work is that I began to crave reading while waiting for, and while riding the train. I began downloading books to my tablet since I was trying to travel as light as possible. The moment I arrived on the platform I had the tablet out and was reading, and I often wished the ride w longer so I could finish a chapter or a paragraph. My travel time is brief, so it surprised me when I finished my first book in less than a month. I realized first-hand that 15-20 minutes a day adds up.

Somehow the physical activity of running has an effect on my brain that I now cannot imagine doing anything other than reading on the train. But shouldn't any form of moderate, or even easy exercise have the same effect? Perhaps it is different for different people, but for three years I walked to and from the train. But a ten minute walk in the morning did nothing to wake me up; or to wake up my brain. In the afternoon, my 20-minute powerwalk after a day of teaching and office hours would leave me feeling deeply fatigued. I used to play solitaire on my phone until I was in a stupor by the time I got to my stop. Now, simply running the same route, I cannot imagine playing solitaire! Not only would it mean missing a chance to read some more of whatever book I am consuming, but it would just be mind-numbing.

Since I began running to work, I have read more books in a little over a year than I did in the past ten years. Literally. And a little embarrassing to admit. I have read just about every book on running that I would like to, and have learned a college degree's worth on the subject of physiology as it relates to endurance sports. I have revisited my study of yoga meditation, and truly feel as if I have catapulted myself forward toward the lofty goal of self-realization (still a long way away, but forward). I have dabbled in the fiction of several authors I knew of for years but had no connection to. But most important, I feel refreshed and alive when I get off the train, both in the am and the pm. I cannot even begin to imagine how this has benefitted my family life and my overall enjoyment of time away from work.

Very often, while I am running (usually from where ever I get off the train to work, and not vice- versa, or during the short half mile from home to the train) I feel deep inspiration to write. Writing and reading are two sides of the same coin. And like reading, I have gone through many brief periods throughout my life (beginning in the holed-up-in-my-bedroom teenage angst years) writing intensely and consistently, but more often have experienced longer periods of not writing, but always knowing how important the activity can be. So, for me anyway, it seems that writing and reading must be inspired; I have never been able to force myself to do either. Running, it turns out, is the best form of inspiration for both. Inspiration doesn't even seem like the accurate word here. Running creates the energy that then somehow leads to the inspiration. Maybe it is that running creates an energy that prepares me to be inspired, or allows me to be inspired. Perhaps the inspiration is always there, but I just have to prepare physically, and mentally (two sides of another coin) for that inspiration to lead to action.

To take this line of thinking a little further, running is like reading is like writing in another way. All three are activities that a lot of people, myself included, claim to have trouble starting, even though they know these activities are beneficial, and even enjoyable, once begun. Once the writing really kicks in, writing is a joyful activity. Once we really get into a good book, it becomes hard to put it down. Once we let go on a run, we want to run forever. Its getting off the sofa that is the hardest part. Or getting on the sofa when it comes to reading!

I think these three activities are hard to initiate because they require a complete break of frame. What I mean is that we exist in contexts that become very comfortable, if not always conducive to happiness or health. I might dislike my job, but I get there every day partly due to the inertia created by habit. Breaking the work frame is just another routine, even thought the commute frame is radically different, as is the at home frame. The frames are different but moving from one to the next is just part of the overall routine. Adopting a running practice is challenging because until is part of that same overall routine it requires too much effort to enter its unique frame. Same with reading and writing.

So here is my conclusion: By making running to work my new routine, part of that routine now includes a physical and mental preparation for reading. At the same time, it also takes the routine of the daily commute and combines it with a routine of reading. It still amazes me how it is practically an impulse to pull my tablet out the moment I get to a train platform. It feels odd to do something else. As a result of all this reading I end up writing a lot more too.

I wonder what other activities I can turn into impulse? The category of activity would be things that I know will bring satisfaction on some level, or benefit me in some way, but that I have trouble initiating. Cleaning the bathroom. I actually kind of enjoy it once I am in the zone! I turned dish washing into an impulse several years ago simply by cutting out temporary storage in the sink. Keeping the basement orderly, tools put away. Huh, for some reason all I can think of is matters of cleanliness, housekeeping, but that is an area that I feel drags me down. So I guess that's all I need to know for now.

How do I make keeping my closet clean and organized a routine or impulse. For one, I guess it has to be something done daily. One problem is the way that clean clothes magically appear on my dresser as a result of my wonderful wife. It isn't daily, so it defies a real routine, but I know what has to happen is that I have to put the clean clothes away the moment I see them. No, maybe not. What if I straighten up every night when I go to bed, and at that time put away any new clean clothes? That might work. It is really the most logical time to do it. Done.

Cleaning the bathroom is another story, sort of. Maybe I clean the shower every time I use it. Toilet? It really makes more sense to clean a bathroom once a week, but there is my achilles heal. Sunday. Sunday before bed. Straighten up bedroom. Same thing. If ai cleaned the bathroom and bedroom once a week it would take minutes. Done.

Basement - I want to make it impulse to put things away as soon as I am done using them. This might be the biggest challenge. Why don't I do it? I want to work until the moment I can't anymore. I am tired by the time I am done a project for the day. Maybe just a few rules, like no loose tools out on the tables. Tables get swept. More large buckets to temporarily store recently used tools until I put them away. Neat before totally organized. A shelf for those buckets. Maybe putting tools away doesn't make sense. I have played with this before -- tools get grouped based on their purpose. My electrical bag, finish carpentry bucket. Might just need some more tools, like extra tapes.