Mid-semester burnout a chance for reflection

A couple of weeks ago, my editor was looking for someone to write about not getting burned out midway through the semester. I unceremoniously laughed in his face.

I am the queen of feeling burned out. Every time I manage to convince myself to go grocery shopping or do a load of laundry, it feels like a great personal achievement. When I do find time for exercise, it’s usually because I’m procrastinating something else.

But in honor of surviving midterms and their aftermath, I thought this could be a good chance to take a look at what meager progress I may have made toward fitness since the semester began.

I’ll begin by acknowledging I’ve gone about this project all wrong. I set out blindly, with vague ideas and no real plan. Most fitness projects have an initial weigh-in, some sort of guidance and certainly a more rigorous schedule than “I better hit the gym before my blog deadline tonight.”

These sorts of things also tackle exercise and diet at the same time, as opposed to my habit of doing 30 minutes on an elliptical and then sipping a Mountain Dew. I’ve purposely neglected my soda problem, as evidence by my ever-pimply complexion, because I just plain don’t have the willpower to deal with my caffeine addiction in the face of my wall of to-dos.

While I don’t have any hard before-and-after data, I’m willing to bet I weigh no less now than when I started.

Yet with all that said, I’ve managed a few small victories. This week alone I’ve had a salad for lunch twice. That’s two times more than any other week before.

I’ve also been surprised to find myself craving a quick jaunt on a treadmill in the same way I might crave some sweets or can of Coke. I don’t act on these cravings quite so readily as the others, but the fact that they exist is a testament to the power of post exercise endorphins and baby steps in the right direction.

I’m no longer afraid to brave the Wellness Center for fear the true athletes will call me out as a fitness poser. Everyone is there to better themselves — and they’re too busy doing that to care what some stranger in sweatpants and a Game of Thrones tank top is doing.

While my mid-semester burnout has been a hurdle in its own right, it’s nothing a few workouts and some consecutive nights of proper sleep won’t fix.

Despite my directionless start, I’ve managed to lay the bare-bones foundation of a healthy lifestyle change. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. If I can feel the benefits from the little I’ve done, it’s all the more inspiration to keep going.