Oh, it’s too early in the morning!

I tried to shake the rust out of my tired arms and legs. I thought I looked like a graceful young ballerina stretching her legs or maybe a boxer hitting each of his arms and mentally preparing himself for a fight. In reality, I looked like an wounded duck, one wing working, one flapping in distress, flailing to the ground.

I wondered how I had gotten to this point. My heart told me that I needed my head examined. Like now. Like right away. My head scolded me for getting up before the crack of dawn to go for a walk. It told me that the late nighttime and early morning hours should be left sacred for good, old, amazing sleep.

A slow process

Yes, I’m trying to include more exercise into my day and my body parts are all rebelling. They’re striking back calling me horrible, mean names. Yes, yes, it’s a New Year’s resolution, but I thought I would be ambitious and start early. Since I’ve started this sadistic routine, my back has been complaining non-stop. It has a strong opinion on the subject and leaves nothing to the imagination. “What the &@!$#! do you think you’re doing Brian.”

My feet and arms are complaining too. They’ve taken a more traditional approach. They threaten to take me to court and sue me for abuse and dereliction of duty. They claim to have a world-class lawyer representing them. They say things can end “nice-like,” if I just go back to bed and promise to stop this madness.

Some good, some bad

My mini workout plan has experienced a mixture of success. Some days, I’ve been up and out of bed before 5. Other days have been a swing and miss, with me hitting the snooze button an alarmingly number of times.

Despite the misgivings, I find that most days my attempts at discipline and exercise have been rewarded in some way. For example, take this past Sunday. I got up and got dressed. When I went outside in the cold morning, I woke to find that my car tire was flat.

Okay, that was a bummer and I was not amused. I raised a fist in the area as if to say, “why now God.” I worried about having to change the tire or put on a spare with temperatures in the low 20s. But I put it out of my mind and started my walk.

A few minutes later, I was rewarded with a beautiful, morning sunshine. The sunrise was not the best sun rise I’ve ever experienced. In fact, it was pretty tame as sunrises go. But the cold, stillness reminded me that life happens all around us. We can take notice and enjoy it or ignore it altogether, but it’s our choice.

I, for one, am going to enjoy it.