Don't Be a Sloth!

Slothful Behavior? Click here to see what shamed me into exercise....



     Once I heard that several people had named the sloth "Jeanne Kraus", I knew it was my time to get across the road, so to speak. Despite the fact that I have a full time teaching job and I write part time, I was not being all that I could be. Despite the fact that I tutor children and attend night meetings for parent training at school and writing trainings for me, I was holding back on Jeanne Kraus.

      My trainer, Arnaldo, got through the layers of Jeanne self-neglect in one visit. It was brutal. He had just returned from training in the National Guard for several months and now he thinks he is the boss of me. Our conversation was telling....

This is what other trainees look like.

     Arnaldo: How often did you do the exercises I left you with?              

     Me: (shame-facedly) None.

     Arnaldo: (not quite believing) You did not exercise once?

     Me: No. I meant to.

     I tried to blame it on the fact that I could not exercise without him there but he wasn't buying it. Then came the embarrassing part. He wanted me to pull out my exercise equipment. We couldn't find it. George, in his zest to clean out the garage for the new car, had buried my unused exercise equipment. It took 3 of us to find it, and then Arnaldo had to clean all the dust and dirt off it with a towel before we could start.

     Once we exercised and he wrote down everything I should do during the week he quizzed me on my eating habits. Also embarrassing.

     "Do you still go to Weight Watchers?" he asked, being careful not to look at my protruding stomach.      



     "No, we quit," I said.
     "Are you going to a nutritionist?" he wanted to know. I thought longingly of the JuJyfruits stashed in my office.
      "No, we're just winging it." That prompted him to sit down with a paper and pencil.

     He wanted to know what I eat all during the day. He wasn't happy with my answer for "What do you eat for breakfast?" - leftovers, but he especially did not like my snack choice - animal cookies.

Note that they contain calcium. I had considered them as being healthy.

     He was very happy to know we had protein powder; less happy when I told him I had not used it for 6 months.

     With my renewed determination, I will definitely work on taking better care of myself. I promised Arnaldo. But first I have to finish off these JuJyfruits.