My Guest Room Was Dismantled To Allow For Motivation
Kristyn Meyer is on a journey to make herself the best human that she can be. These posts are a reflection of that. She welcomes your support via reading and through commissioned affiliate links within her posts! To stay up to date on all of her shenanigans, please subscribe to her email list! (psst…there’s a free gift involved)
In my old age, I have become more introverted than extroverted. Back in my youth I liked to hang around people as often as possible. Being at home was boring. I had a tendency to talk people’s ears off if they’d let me.
I’m not that way anymore.
Now I love being by myself. I get just as excited to be home alone, cozy in my bed with fuzzy socks, watching tv or reading as I used to get when I would go hang out with friends.
I’m not a hermit. I don’t stay isolated in my home. But I am here more often than not. I have my routines, my ability to decompress and to enjoy my surroundings. It’s my little cocoon of safety, comfort and stability.
I love having visitors as well, but in small doses. I recently had a friend visit from Tennessee, and she stayed for a long weekend. It was wonderful and I had a blast.
Had she stayed for a week, or longer, it may not have been a blast anymore.
This isn’t because I don’t love her or like being around her.
It’s not her, it’s me.
I’ve had people stay at my house for long periods of time, and it doesn’t go well. Mostly on my part. I don’t like having my life cramped. I want to watch what I want to watch on TV. Also I want to walk around without a bra on. I want to open my refrigerator and have the same foods available to me as the night before, because someone else didn’t eat them in the night. I don’t want to feel the need to keep my house clean or entertain people. Being rude is not something I’m going for in revealing this, I’m just being honest. Entertaining people in my home for long periods of time isn’t a fun thing for me.
With this self-realization, it came to my attention that a guest room isn’t a true need in my home.
What I did need though was a designated space for working out. Not a guest room, but a home gym, if you will.
Now don’t think I left my sporadic guests hanging. I do have an entirely finished basement with a separate living room. There is a lovely pull out couch, a television and a slew of books for reading. There’s also a $5 garage sale lamp next to the bed that gives off a soft, lovely ambiance. I did have a nice comforter set to accompany the pull out couch, but I accidentally melted it in the dryer.
Depending on how hospitable I feel, I may also spritz the room with a linen-scented room spray.
All of this to say,
This was the best move I could have made for myself and my wellbeing. We bought a treadmill and weight machine to put in there. A TV is mounted on the wall with a Roku device attached so that I can watch shows or stream Beachbody on Demand. Over the years I have accumulated a lot of fitness items like my yoga mat, weights, kettlebells, resistance bands, gliders etc. Those now have a home in that room. I can go down there, shut the door and workout. It is so much easier than packing up and driving to the gym. It’s even easier than working out in the living room or my bedroom, because the kids like to barge into those areas when I am utilizing them. And I get really annoyed at tripping over them when I’m trying to bust a move.
This has helped my motivation tenfold.
Before I would drag my feet to go work out, especially if it meant that I had to leave the house. I know this is actually a motivator for some people, but my brain would always calculate the time it would take to get my stuff together to go, drive to the gym, work out, shower and drive home. And then I would give up. With being at home, I literally walk downstairs. My shoes are there, everything is waiting for me. And the commute back upstairs to shower is about 10 seconds.
Because my motivation is higher, I do more working out than ever before. Not only that, but I look forward to it. I am getting ready to start my sixth week of the Cize workout, and it always feels weird when I have a rest day. I feel like I’m being a slacker not working out.
And the results have been great! After my first month I lost 2.5 inches in my waist and 1 inch off my chest!
Now if only I can get the nutrition component under control. One bucket list item at a time though!
