Inflexible

Definition: stubborn

Synonyms: adamant, adamantine, determined, dogged, dyed-in-the-wool, firm, fixed, hard, hard-and-fast, immovable, immutable, implacable, indomitable, inexorable, intractable, iron, obdurate, obstinate, relentless, resolute, rigid, rigorous, set, set in one's ways, single-minded, stand one's ground, staunch, steadfast, steely, stiff, strict, stringent, unadaptable, unbending, unchangeable, uncompliant, uncompromising, unrelenting, unswayable, unyielding

I was thinking of my stiff and (dare I say it??) aging body when I titled this post. My morning calisthenics include: 1) putting on my socks; and 2) making my bed.

As I made my way through this morning, I felt like a 90 year old woman. I started thinking that maybe I should do some stretches before I set one foot on the ground each day. What is going on with this body of mine?

Is it age? Or could it be the extra demands of Zumba and Salsa? Or could it be moving a car load full of boxes from my home, to my new upstairs 'office' at my Place of Work yesterday?

As I have been wading through my 'Fitness Knowledge' course, the one thing that sticks in my mind is that "flexibility is a trainable component of fitness which can be improved at any point in one's life ...".

Even before I decided to look up the synonyms for the word 'inflexible', I had thought of the correlation between age and not only the inflexibility of the body ... but of the mind.

Are my thoughts inflexible? As I age, am I becoming more set in my ways? Am I adaptable? Unbending? Uncompromising? Unyielding?

It was then, that I decided that the flexibility of my thinking is also a trainable component of who I am, that can be improved at any point in my life.

Today, I shall focus on flexibility. Flexibility of my body, as well as flexibility of my mind.

No Zumba for me tonight. Instead ... I shall dance. Dancing exercises both my body and mind. It includes a recipe of good company, laughter, learning and challenges my mind/body co-ordination. It is a partnership. It is the one place in my life where all I have to do is follow.

I'm tired of blazing new trails in my life. It becomes exhausting after a while. Maybe it is the stress of putting on the face of bravery as I step out of my comfort zone that has my muscles tense and feeling inflexible.

So today ... I shall focus on the opposite of 'inflexible':

Antonyms:  flexible, reasonable, willing, yielding

If my mind leads the way, surely my body will follow.