Writers and their health
The business of writing
I’m a certified nerd / geek / puny person who never did sports. Even as a child, I hardly ever played during PE or participated in sports. For me it was books or boardgames - mostly Indian ones that I played with friends and family.
My first day job was as a computer science tutor that involved walking up and down five flights of stairs all day, standing around for 8 hours and hardly getting any food between those long hours. So I presumed I was technically fit though the heaviest thing I could lift was a notebook.
My second job and since then all jobs have been desk jobs. I have been a programmer, project manager, director in a multinational and I was glued to my desk and to my headset. Through those years of corporate servitude, I flirted with a gym and a gym instructor - but I found no joy in exercise. I never willingly went to the gym or on a run.
Then I thought walking would help - it helps with thinking, listening to podcasts but it didn’t help in terms of fitness as much as I thought it would. It definitely helps - I explored my neighbourhood (which is historic), got fresh air, wrote poems, took photos and exhausted myself.
But it wasn’t reducing the possibly hereditary belly-fat which in India they used to call tyre treads. I went from bicycle tyres to truck tyres over the last few years.
I started flirting with the gym again this time on my own, without any PT and again it did not give me joy. No amount of Tamil Koothu songs or Bollywood dance numbers was able to compensate for the punishment I thought I was enduring. And I lost the joy in giving the gym a chunk of my hard-earned money in return for guilt and dread.
So I had to make a choice - I had to want and make a conscious decision to get healthier. As writers we are hunched at the desk for long periods of time - our hobbies are often reading which involves sitting down too. And life gets in the way of being healthy too - events, travel and home responsibilities - everything adds a layer of pressure.
I know some authors won’t know what I’m talking about - they have always been regular at the gym or play sports. I’m talking only about me - someone who prefers to sit at home and putter around.
So I decided to bring the gym home. I developed a string of anaerobic exercises based on all the years of Personal Trainer that I can do for 10 minutes in the morning, followed by 15-min on a bike. I always hesitated to buy gym equipment - I worried it will occupy space in my tiny flat and point fingers at me and guilt-trip me. But when I calculated the cost of an exercise bike compared to a gym membership, I realised even if it’s all guilt and dread, it was actually cheaper to feel those things.
Since I bought the bike a few weeks ago and resolving to get on with it, I’ve been a regular gym-goer. I do my 25 minutes of exercise every morning and 30-40 minutes of walk every evening.
But hang on, don’t be happy for me, yet. Now that I’ve announced it to the world, I’m sure something is going to happen to jinx it and I’m going to use it as a towel-rack as my sister has cleverly predicted. Well, only time can tell. Check back in one year and let’s see if it has paid off.
But on a serious note, if you’re a writer and haven’t done anything more strenuous in terms of physical exercise than biting your pencil-tip, then it’s time to get started. Start with a walk or some squats or some boxing - to get some of the rage out. Maybe it will help. Or maybe you are like me, you will trip over the weighing-scale and break your nose. Don’t blame me! Blame the person who invented the weighing-scale!