japanese maple

Yesterday I finally defeated my lazyness and decided to spend some time to bring a bit of my good body shape back. That is to say I went to the gym.
Sitting on a turning chair for hours and hours, typing frenzly on a 40X15 keyboard seem to have become my favouritite activities over last months. Few doubt that all this involves the death of the phisical shape along with the born of every forms of back pain. All the specialists suggest to do at least few excercises a day to keep the body trained and the mind refreshed. Indeed ancient Romans didn’t use to say “mens sana in corpore sano” for nothing.
Last year by the time I was working on my first degree thesis I began to complain a slipping pain in my back. Well, I had been sitting for hours keeping up the hard work. But that’s not it. It was 3 years since I had almost quitted – or carfully avoided – any kind of sport activities. Yes ladies and gents I had become a sloth. Finally I decided to see an orthopedic doctor and from the X-rays I came to know I had a slipped disc. My god, that was quite depressing for a 22-year-old girl. My grandmother, 78, was definitely still able to hop like a cricket, whereas I was close to walk around with the help of a stick. I couldn’l allow my lazyness to jeopardize my health. Therefore I swore to my self I would start to do some sport activities and I entered a swimming pool. My doctor suggested to go swimming at least twice a week. And that’s what I did for the first month. Afterwards my lazyness prevail and I didn’t do anything not to be overwhelmed by it.
During these last pre-term days I have been expiriencing also how mind and body are intimately connected to one another. I actually was feeling quite depressed because of several reasons; indeed couldn’t get anything done, being too overwhelmed by an annoying sluggishness. The dulling of my mind of course affected my body and viceversa. But then I forced my self to the student gym. While sweating and toiling I remember how good was to train. All the clouds towering over my head magically disappeared, all the negativities that had affected me since one hour before just dissolved and I began to feel another person. Two quids given for a new revival of both my muscles and my soul.

Some time ago I came to read an article on my favourite Italian magazine. It was about an alleged awesome book called Getting things done. Apparently the author, American David Allen, has made piles of money by telling people how to get the best from their time, whilst they feel that 24 hours a day are actually too little to get all their things done.
It’s not new that from time to time, sparkling America pulls some new wonders out of the top hat. Sometimes it is a magic product that makes you loose nine kilos in nine hours, even if you fuel yourself with a stoke of TripleBigMacs, sometimes it’s a troubleshooter who promises to solve all your existential problems.
That’s the reason why, when I first read about this succesful book -thousands and thousands of copies sold in the US and all around the world- I raised my eyebrowses skeptically. Still when I went through the contents I was quite perplexed.
To cut a long story short, he basically suggested to write down things you have to do. Write them on a notebook, on a wall board, on a piece of paper, on your forehead. Write them wherever you like, but write them down. Well, believe me, it really seemed to me that Mr. Allen had discovered Columbus’s egg. Had he really earned millions of dollars by writing a book on such obvious suggetions?
However, after a first disappointment I told my self: there’s surely must be something beyond the obviousness. Therefore I tried. During periods of dizzy stress, periods I felt like my brain was so overfilled that if I had put something more in it, I would have blasted it for sure, I tried to make “to be done lists”. And I have to admite, with a bit of grudge, that actually yes, it works. I have to admit that writing thigs down helps amazingly.
Therefore I began mumbling. If creating lists for things helps to organize things in life, perhaps creating a blog might helps to file caoting things in my mind. Trying doesn’t cost a thing. Although I’m quite fickle in my decisions and when I decide to do something I barely continue to do it constantely, it might be worth to try.
Well so come on my brain, let’s go and get our things done!