moderation in all things, including moderation

Starting next week - for the first time since I've been a nurse - I'm going to have a set schedule. It won't be the same every week, but it's a four week rotation that keeps repeating. So week one will always be the same, and week two and so on and so on. On the one hand it will be a little less flexibility, but on the other hand it will be so nice to know months in advance what my schedule will be. Actually, the flexibility probably won't even be an issue. You can almost always muster up a shift trade when you need to. And since so many of us have kids, it's a pretty sympathetic crowd.


I'm excited about this for lots of reasons. One, I like to know ahead of time when I'm working. Two, we'll finally be able to get the kids on a set schedule as far as being with their dad every other weekend while I work. Three, I got almost exactly the schedule I requested, which is pretty darn sweet, if I do say so myself. And four, it allows me to make some plans. Plans that I keep putting off because "my schedule is so weird".


It always amuses me that I love filling in empty calendar slots as much as I do. I love to write down appointments and kid's classes and after school activities and days I work and any number of other non-social things. But the reason it amuses me is because I love nothing so much as an empty slot on the calendar. A whole empty square makes me very happy indeed. And if I can resist the temptation to fill it in it makes me even happier.


However, into every life some structure must fall, and mine is no exception. So I'm using this new, set schedule as a means to build some structure where before there wasn't much. And the first place I'm starting is with exercising and working out. At least this is the plan as it stands now.


I've gotten back on the gym wagon since my ankle is basically healed, and it's been going fine. (I'm still afraid to run, but that's a whole other post). But it's been fly by the seat of your pants gym-going, and I'm looking for something a little more thought out. It would be nice to use this gym membership I have for something other than walking on a treadmill, when I have a perfectly good treadmill out in the studio that I never touch. So today, in between my three hour nap and my popcorn/Laura Ingalls Wilder binge, I pulled out my gym schedule and took a look at classes. (This was also to assuage my guilt that the nap won hands down over actually going to the gym today). And before you could spell Pilates, I was filling in calendar boxes with a misguided vengeance that looked good on paper but probably wouldn't translate well to reality. I erased it all and rethought.


I want a program that will keep me interested. I want to get up my nerve to start running again. I want to try some classes and get back into weights. I'd like to see if Pilates really is all that. And I know for a fact that I slept like a baby when I was doing yoga. But I don't want to go to the gym more than three days a week, although I don't really care how long I stay once I'm actually there. So I'm a little stumped as to how to make this work. Cardio three times a week, weights two to three, classes one or two...gee. I'd better quit my job now and free up some time.


Does anyone want to share their fitness routine and give me some ideas? Even if it's bench pressing the box of donuts before you open it, I'd like to hear about it. Because I do overkill really well, and I'm pretty good at sloth, too. But that prudent moderation business? Gets me every time.