Saturday, February 11, 2017

My Riding Schedule and How It Relates to a Famous Cat


This cat to be exact

Previously I'd have a schedule planned for the week which would look something like this;

Sunday: Lesson
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Ride
Wednesday: Ride
Thursday: Ride
Friday: Off
Saturday Ride

In a good week I'd ride or not ride as planned. The problem was always if something came up, I had a stressful day at work, the weather was really bad, my lesson was rescheduled etc. Unfortunately if those things happened I normally didn't ride on a day off, I just didn't ride on a scheduled day.

One of the main problems is that I have a stressful job. 80% of the time when I think about riding that evening during my work day it sounds not only like the least fun thing I can think of but almost impossible with the mental state I'm in. Especially when I need to get home, make food, change, and then drive the half hour to the barn. Because of that, all I can do all day is think about how to not go to the barn and instead sit at home and veg out in front of the tv.

And I even got some video!
Instead I've changed things up this week and now I'm not planning anything. All day long when I think about not going to the barn I just ignore it and go on with my day while focusing on being in the moment. Then, even when I get home I don't think about it and don't plan anything. Instead as I'm finishing up dinner it's actually started to sound like fun and by the time rush hour is over all I want to do is get changed into my riding clothes and head to the barn. 

Then because I didn't have an expected schedule I just went to the barn every day I could so that when I ended up with a day I couldn't go it didn't actually reduce the number of days that I went to the barn at all. In fact, this is the first week I've made it to five, productive, days at the barn in months. Even better, it was easy and non-stressful.

So, basically all day long I could either go or not go to the barn and that flexibility has made it sound like fun rather than a chore :)

8 comments:

  1. Sounds like you've found a way that works well for you, awesome!

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    1. This definitely makes it feel the easiest of anything I've tried!

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  2. So happy you managed to find the right way for you. Wishing you only health and only fun:)
    Jessi

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    1. Thanks Jessi! I'm happy that it's working too :)

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  3. This is interesting to me, I may have to try your approach. I have similar issues. I love riding (obviously), but being lazy at home is an urge that's often hard to fight. I've been trying for years to increase my number of rides per week but it never seems to happen. Thanks for sharing what's working for you!

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    1. I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels that way. I LOVE riding and I'm always glad that I go but actually getting into my riding clothes and climbing in the car to drive to the barn is so tough some days (especially with the shorter days during the winter! If you try it you'll have to let me know how it goes :)

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