Hello, book nerds!
Is mid-April too late to post about March? Whatever.
I’ve slowed down on reading quite a bit over the last month. This is a good and bad thing — good according to my goal for the year, bad according to my stacked TBR.
But also, I’m doing other things. (What?!) Yes, it’s true. I’m collecting hobbies like infinity stones for my gauntlet. Watching more movies and playing more games is a given, but I’ve been on a journey to find ways to get active that I actually like (because of a book, naturally). Rock climbing has been my main new thing that I really love, but I’ve also been running and doing yoga.
The running has surprised me most. I’ve always hated it. But once I know something, I can’t unknow it. I read Outlive by Peter Attia last fall, and it put fire under my butt; suddenly, I knew I had to make a change. The gist of the book is: if you want to have a long healthspan (read: not just the number of years you’re alive, but the number of years you’re healthy and capable), you have to get active yesterday. It’s the idea that if you want to walk up one flight of stairs when you’re 75, you need to be able to run up 3-4 flights now. I still spent a few months resisting it, but come mid-January, enough was enough. Getting over myself was the biggest hurdle.
When I started, I’d go to the track and only run the straights and walk the curves. My shins screamed with every bounce, my calves locked up. My butt crack was sore afterwards (why my butt crack???). Muscles I forgot I had were making themselves known. I even had to watch a YouTube video on how to run properly.
And then…after a run, a sense of physical calm would descend over me and last the rest of the day. A runner’s high? Was I experiencing it?
I gave myself permission to never improve beyond running the straights, because I hated it. But of course, I did improve over time, and I actually started to like it. It took three months of going once a week before I could jog a whole mile without stopping, so I’ve only just accomplished that recently. I’ve gotten stronger. It still hurts, and I’m slow, but who cares? The crazier thing is that now I’m starting in on mile #2. Who am I?
So I run on Sundays for my cardio, do yoga on Tuesdays for mobility and flexibility, and I go indoor rock climbing on Thursdays for strength (I chose this one as an alternative to going to the gym because I find weight-lifting sooo boring; this has been way better). I feel I’m hitting my stride, and it’s empowering.
All that to say: while I’m still reading, obviously, my pace has slowed to allow for these other things.
Anyway, I know you’re really here for the memes, so here’s my March reading in a meme-shaped nutshell:
