I’ve started going back to judo practice. For now, I’m skipping the ろんどり (“rondori”, or sparring) because my shoulder is not 100% just yet, but even so I’m so out of shape that I feel nauseous most of the time.
Am hoping this goes away, as am annoying myself.
Anyway, the shower afterwards felt great. I find it easy to forget that enjoyment often comes from contrast. If I don’t work out, a shower is just a shower. If I wasn’t working hard, a vacation wouldn’t mean much. If I had never felt lonely, I wouldn’t appreciate much the nice things people sometimes say.
I have a friend who is doing her Ph.D. research on well-being, and I don’t pretend to understand her work but I do remember that she once told me about the result of a massive survey she helped with. They found that a sense of well-being was uncorrelated to the amount of enjoyment in one’s life, but was highly (inversely) correlated to toil and hardship.
I sometimes feel like I’m slowly but surely wearing myself down. But that’s okay, isn’t it?
January 24th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
woo hoo! shower pic! Let’s get some more of those.
I don’t like the thought of a worn down Jake, but if it helps you get more enjoyment out of your upcoming vacation (Colorado?), do what you must…
January 26th, 2008 at 12:20 am
well said. nice picture too. i’ll keep both in mind.
January 29th, 2008 at 2:51 am
okay…as long as it brings you home