Make the decision and bring on the pickle jars

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Source: Wal-Mart

Decisions come in all kinds of packages. Some are easy. If your laundry detergent makes you itch, you change it.

If you don’t like anchovies on your pizza, you don’t order them again.

Some are harder like job changes or unhappy marriages. You need to move on but you stall. Sometimes the reasons for the stall make sense. Sometimes they don’t. It’s always complicated.

This is about my new gym. No, it’s not another exercise rant. It’s a lesson I learned…again.

My old gym was just that…old. The equipment was 20 years old and not updated. There was no energy. Two years ago there was a staffing change that resulted in unscheduled closings.

I knew at that time that I should change gyms. So why didn’t I?

The old gym provided a social aspect to my day. Even though the exercise wasn’t substantial, there was something I enjoyed about it. It was a pleasant routine.

I also knew that the gym would close when the rental contract was up this past August. I could defer to the natural ending. The decision was made for me. It was easier.

Change has always been something I enjoy. It keeps life interesting. Sometimes it’s painful but after the pain comes a really good part if you are open to it.

So I know all that. Why did I procrastinate? I can make all the excuses I want but I took the easy way out.

The negative effects were that I missed out on a really good workout. I have bicep buds now. (Still baby buds but they are growing!) Because the equipment is adjustable I have already upgraded my weights to a higher level. I can feel the change in my back. It’s a good feeling.

I am annoyed that I didn’t move on when I should have. When all the signs pointed to “get out now.” Makes me wonder why I keep learning the same lessons over and over again. I’ll be 90 years old and I’ll still keep learning the same stuff.

So where do the pickles come in? Opening pickle jars was the first sign I was losing hand strength. (And olive jars, relish, juice, any jar really!) My goal is to be the neighborhood pickle person. When an elderly person (elderly is always 20 years older than me) needs some lids removed I will be ready.

What changes do you resist making?

59 thoughts on “Make the decision and bring on the pickle jars”

  1. You are a great motivator, Kate! I am very slow to change course, myself. I don’t know exactly what holds me back, but I have a slow response to discomfort. Your story provides excellent evidence of how a closing of one option may be a happy beginning beyond an ending. I have recently dislocated a finger and there isn’t a lot to be done for it…my pickle jar openings are tremendously challenging. I hope that’s a temporary issue!

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  3. Lol…what a great wrap around to a fun story. I love that your end result has such a simple but long term goal that will last for at least the next twenty years, assuming this gym stays open..;)

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  4. I am delighted that you are enjoying your gym. Tickled at your baby bud biceps and maybe just a little jealous. I resist a lot of change… especially in products I love and then they either change or discontinue them. Like Bare Minerals doing away with their skin care line… I miss it so much and have not found anything that works nearly as well. I am tired of stretchy women’s jeans and broke down and bought mens Levi 100% cotton denim jeans yesterday. They are close but not quite there… I am going to keep working on it. You keep talking about baby bud biceps and your gym and I am going to head for our HealthPlex! That would be a change!

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    • I don’t like change in my products at all. I don’t even like changes in the packaging. I realize that people like to try new but I like to be able to find what I want without reading every label.

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  5. Good point about the pickle jars. After years of yoga and solo living (hauling heavy bags of compost out of the card etc) I had very well defined biceps. Alas, age has slackened them, and also my grip. For years I’ve taken fiendish glee is replying with a vicegrip return hand shake and startling untold numbers of men. I’m a tiny woman, so my steel handshake comes as a great surprise. But now halfway thru my 7th decade – I also need help to open big pickle jars. Luckily our retirement complex employs young, strong male gate guards!

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    • Age takes it’s toll on hands. I remember when I would threat needles for my mother. Part of it was her eyesight and part was her unsteady hands. Aging isn’t for sissies but still better than the alternative.

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  6. Hmm – what changes do I resist making? Sometimes it’s just seeing the obvious. Like doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result. Then I’ll look at it one day and go, “Huh, wouldja look at that?” Then I change. But it takes me a while, it has to be my idea first – ha!

    fun post, MJ

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  7. Speaking of gyms and changes, the one thing I am bad about for sure is switching up on on my workout routine. For the most part I have done the exact same one for almost 15 years. Only recently did my wife show me a new machine, and I actually am using it now. But I’ve always resisted trying new ones. – Marty

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    • Yeah, I can see that happening to me. I have a routine I do and don’t deviate much. There is one I’m thinking of trying one of these days to see if I like it. We have a stepper that is like a set of stairs. I am in awe of the people who do that thing. My fear is that it will fling me off like a piece of dust.

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  8. Some changes create more resistance than others. At least you went out and found a new gym right away. I fear that my method would have been to say, “Oh well, my gym closed.” And then procrastinate for a VERY LONG TIME before attempting to find a new one. Congratulations on your increased fitness and your new biceps. I have many jars to be open if you’re free to swing by!

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  11. See sentence four; this IS about exercise. I resist making the decision to clean the house. It’s not a life-change as you were talking about, but it’s something I put off until I know I will be embarrassed if I don’t do it. It’s such a useless exercise. The instant you finish, the house rushes to dirty itself again.

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  12. My hands are riddled with arthritis and I can’t even open a pop bottle (soda for the non-Chicagoans). I’m not even 55 years old yet either (next week, shh, don’t tell anyone).

    I’m like you, I actually like change, but some things I procrastinate on because it would take an effort that I’m not willing to do yet. Maybe that’s why you didn’t switch sooner? I don’t know. Just a thought. Glad you’re enjoying your new gym and that buff bod. 😉

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  13. Congrats on your bicep buds! Keep at it.:-)

    Here’s a change I resist making: I keep trying to do what’s important rather than what’s efficient. I recognize what I need to do to move forward on a task or project, but I want to do things RIGHT, so I slow myself down in silly perfectionism. Irritating.

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    • I know that. I have a friend who gets very bound up in perfection to the point of not enough progress in her personal life. Somewhere along the line I have learned when to decide that good enough is good enough.

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  14. Congrats on the biceps. I have very little arm strength. I never have had so I don’t know what I’m missing. I use aids to help me open things (or my husband). It is hard to break from old patterns. Don’t beat yourself up too much about it – with your new strength you might hurt yourself!

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  16. I started with a personal trainer 2 1/2 years ago, and what a difference it has made. And because it is just me and the trainer its hard to skip the appointment. Only took me about 59 years to start exercising. Better late than not at all.

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    • Do you go once a week? I haven’t booked an appointment with one because there is a extra charge for it. It doesn’t come with my membership at this particular gym. I’ve been working with the staff there to establish a routine that works for me. So far, that’s been working. I can see how you can’t blow off an appointment. The first two weeks I had to make myself go. It took time until I felt comfortable there. It was like being a new kid in school but most of the people who go at the time I do are also retirees. Now it’s good.

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      • FWIW, my experience with a paid personal trainer at a gym is that you’ll never be quite good enough, so you’ll have to buy another round of sessions with this person– or join a class that costs you more money– or buy some gadget that only this gym sells– or… It never ends, what you need to buy. So, eventually, I learned and I said: “good-bye!” 😉

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        • The “trainer” that’s attached to this gym (not employed by it but she hangs around trolling for business) got an eye roll from the guy at the front desk. I’ve been going there for well over a month and have gotten to know him (he gets my stupid questions) and have a lot of respect for him. He was a trainer, weight lifter and competed so he’s knowledgable. Now he’s a retiree keeping a low profile. If I decide to go the trainer route, I’ll seek his counsel.

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          • Trolling for business. Yep, that’s what was going on at this gym. I was into the personal trainer thing at first, but soon it became clear that I was a pawn in a bigger game– and the fact that the gym allowed this happen contributed to me leaving the gym entirely.

            [Never regretted it though. Getting there was more driving hassle than it was worth.]

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            • I like the gym and the guy at the desk. The drive is short with my Starbucks nearby so I’m set for now. I wouldn’t mind a walk through with a trainer and I could get one for free if I went to another of their gyms but not this one.

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      • I’m glad it is getting more comfortable. I would find breaking into a new gym and group tough too. I see my trainer twice a week, and it is a studio and there are never more than 2-3 of us at once, so very easy going.

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    • Bulging may be an exaggeration but I can feel a difference in my upper body (which is where I work the most). I also walk so my legs get a lot of exercise. Self motivation isn’t easy. It wasn’t for me. It would have been easier to not find another place and a lot of the members of the old place did that. I am at the cusp of osteoporosis so that compelled me.

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  18. You should buy one of those hand grip strengtheners, Kate. I’ve been resistant to switching to a smartphone, but during a recent commute and getting lost in the “hood” at 5:30 in the morning, a traffic app offering alternative routes would have been helpful.

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