Why are you doing press ups?

For the last year I’ve been doing press ups every day. Slightly mad you think?

It was inspired by a motivational talk by “The Burpee Guy“. He was looking for a challenge to raise funds and settled on a 1-365 challenge, increasing the number of burpees by one per day.

One of the guys at work thought it would be a good way to get fit, but wanted to do press ups rather than burpees. I’m easily persuaded to get involved in these types of challenges so signed up for moral support.

I also roped in my husband who made the mistake of saying he’d like to do 40 press ups by Christmas. Queue informercial voice-over of “why stop there, when for just a few extra minutes a day you could do so many more instead”!

Starting with one seemed a bit silly, but it quickly added up to hard. However, it was surprising how if you could do [insert number] yesterday, then what is just one more?

We got to 108 when we decided we might need to modify the challenge – just one more still adds up to a lot of time and sore muscles – so we settled on 100 a day instead.

And yes, it was a bit crazy, but the funny thing is I think it has led to all sorts of changes, including this blog.

Realising you can control one small habit opens up intriguing possibilities…

Particularly when other parts of life remain completely out of (your) control.

We are currently riding the ups and downs of cancer. My mother in law has not been responding to the treatment so now the discussion is what’s next. I can’t do much about the course of that conversation – I’m just part of the support crew on the sidelines.

But, while the rollercoaster makes its giddy descent, I think I’ll be continuing some press ups.

What helps you steer through the twists and turns of life?