Beach Body

I had to swallow my pride and admit that I am not trail running, biking or rock climbing anymore. And yet I still need regular exercise. So I "jump around the living room," as my four-year-old calls it, doing thirty minute workout videos.

I was doing a plank and the two-year-old tried to climb on my back. I'm unfortunately not the woman in the advertisement who smiles and invites her child to climb onto her for extra "resistance" when she's working out. I am instead the woman who demands her child go back to watching TV for another 15 minutes so she can please for the love of God just do this thing for herself. Please just this one thing, this woman that is me, begs with tears in her eyes. You have everything that is mine, all I need is this one thing. I swatted him away. So he returned with a toy truck and hit me in the head. I grabbed the truck and tossed it across the room. He unfortunately fell in the process of my tossing the truck. Then the four-year-old's tablet died. The two-year-old was crying from the fall that was completely unrelated to my tossing the truck, just bad timing, and I felt guilty as I comforted him, even though he was completely unhurt. I looked at my new workout affirmation, "You're great. No guilt." I turned away from the two-year-old to plug in the tablet, so the two-year-old peed on the workout mat. After it was all cleaned up, he looked straight at me, locked eyes, and spat. The mat was a bit wet and smelled strongly of all purpose cleaner. Nonetheless, I persisted and completed the workout. I even did the victory cleansing breath at the end.

You're Great. Keep it Up. Good Job. No Guilt.