More Than Just Physically Interesting
Virtuous Bread, Monday 15 August 2011
An amazing change has come over me.
I have come back from a session at the gym with Brian and I am not sore. I don’t even feel tempted to take a hot bath and lie down. In fact, I feel rather marvellous. I might have become a convert to squats. I have squatted while brushing my teeth and drying my hair. I have squatted while waiting for the kettle to boil. And that’s not all...
As a baker, there are times in the day when I just have to hang around for ten minutes, waiting for yeast to proof. In the past I would fritter away that time – don’t ask me how but it was not productive. Now, I do lunges, and curtseys – in a little routine that Brian gave me. 10 per leg. Three reps. Forward. Backward. Sideways. Curtseys. I don’t know if there is an impact on my jeans, but I do know that I am not limping around letting out gentle whimpers every time I bend down. And that has got to be a good thing.
In fact, the whole make over thing with Alice from Dress for Success has been more than simply physically interesting (although I must say my skin is looking radiant too). As part of the prize I got a session with a life coach whose name is Marcella Simon and who, like all of use, hails from SW London. I was skeptical (sorry Marcella). I am an analytical person. I have plenty of friends. I talk to my mum a lot. Surely there cannot be a problem on the planet that I have not thought about, talked through, and analysed to death... but that was not the point.
Talking to Marcella (about the oldest problem on the planet – you figure it out) was incredibly helpful. She took me through a structured process of questions and answers, asking me to make lists, focus on important words in those lists, and reframe the questions and the answers I was writing down. The result (and I cannot say how it came about, just that it did) was that I have completely refocused my approach to the problem at hand. I am looking for the answers in a different place and in a different way. I am looking for different answers altogether, in fact, and I have a plan to work on. Further, I have Marcella in the back ground who, I know, is thinking of me because she is just that kind of person: warm, supporting, non judgmental, and kind. A wonderful life coach and someone I can highly recommend if you have a problem that is just not getting resolved no matter how hard you try. You may need to tackle it in a different way – you never know – and I assure you it is worth trying to find out.
So, with body and mind much more at peace I am off for a bra fitting (yes! Fantastic new underwear was part of the prize!) and then have to submit to Alice decluttering my wardrobe.
Do you think it would be cheating to hide some clothes?
Virtuous Bread is SW London transplant from Canada. A former partner in a strategy consulting firm, she has become a baker, a writer, and a social entrepreneur, founder of Virtuous Bread.
