Day 52, Painting = exercise?

So yesterday, my bright and shiny day off from work, had the misfortune to let itself be turned into a day full of work. My bit of the house was in desperate need (apparently) to have everything stripped from it--bookcases, gone! desk, gone! computer and t.v., gone! bed...um, still there--my closet doors taken off, clothes moved to a different part of the house, etc. until it was left as some ghost-like version of itself, abandoned and empty. Ready to be totally renovated. The walls turned from a charming light blue color (like living in the sky, it was, my head could float freely and my thoughts and ideas lived unhampered by gravity) to a dark, earthy beige (yes, beige). My old, dirty wooden closet doors were replaced with fancy mirrored doors that slide easily on a track as quiet as a whisper, and the baseboards and molding everywhere replaced with newer versions of themselves.

It’s been quite an undertaking that I luckily haven’t had to be too involved in thanks to my obligations to the PCP and you guys. I certainly have helped, of course, it is my room, and that is why I’m writing about it right now.

Something occurred to me a few hours after everything inside of that place was painted, I’m not sure why I didn’t realize it when the painting was taking place but if I had to guess I would say that it had something to do with the oppressive heat (I do like that saying :-) and the cramped angles and corners of the room, all that made everything uncomfortable and made my mind screech to a halt. I began to realize, after all of the sweat and muscle aches were showered away that the whole undertaking would have been considerably more difficult had it not been for the PCP.

First of all, the whole business of painting is a great endurance challenge in itself, it made me realize that I would not want to spend my days doing that as a living (not my idea of personal fulfillment, no sir). But the all of the massive amounts of jumproping that I’ve put myself through these past eight weeks and change has turned me into a lean person with a stamina to be envied. Not that I’m suggesting you all to envy me. Ha, my ego will never be that big and ugly.

I also was slapped with the realization that all of the muscle newly unencumbered with fat has become much more stretchy and pliable, easily maneuvered and able to bounce back readily from any stress that I put on it through the day or while painting my ceiling to floor walls (how else would they be?). I always thought I was pretty flexible before starting the project thanks to all of the karate training I’ve done over the past nearly fifteen years but, man, I didn’t know what I’ve been missing. Cramped corners were easily conquered like the puny things they are under my new found advanced flexibility and high edges fell under my rolling brush like so many dominoes. In fact, I laugh in triumph now and say “Ta-ta” to my tight, clumsy body of old, lying there in the cold, dark past where it belongs.

Even the very act of rolling paint on the walls itself became as easy as pie thanks to my developing muscle mass. The benefits are noticeable instantaneously and they made what could have been a grueling, “turn your arms into jelly” piece of work into something more like a relaxed pleasure (despite the heat in the room). All the while I was able to watch the muscles in my forearms expand and bulge, contract and move as I ran the roller up and down, side to side along the walls in, what I’m assuming is, record speed (for me, at least).

So I’ve been aware of the changes taking place because of the project for some time now, you’ve read all about the things that have happened so far, but now I’ve had a real world example of just how changed everything really is. I’ve had a practical demonstration of what exactly has happened to me and what I’m able to accomplish which is much more valuable and meaningful to me than stepping on a scale and watching the numbers go down. Because in the end it doesn’t matter what number the scale shows, all that matters is how do you feel and what are you able to accomplish? Those are the important and meaningful things.