Reading time: About 1 minute
This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world for material to help other writers. Today I discuss a blog post about whether writing is like exercise….
I laughed when I read Steven Pressfield’s most recent blog post.
It ran under the headline “Going to the gym in the dark,” and it began this way:
“It’s 4:30 in the morning and we’re on our way to the gym. This is six days a week, rain or shine, Christmas, Fourth of July, your birthday. I hate it. Everybody does. We’d all rather be home in bed munching bon-bons. Why do it then? For me, it’s not because I imagine I’m going to be the next Mr. Universe. It’s about the mental game.”
Like Pressfield, I do my exercises first thing in the morning, only for me it’s at 6:30 am, and I’ve done a half hour of work at my desk, first. And I’m lucky enough to have a routine I can do at home with a relatively small amount of gear. (A yoga mat, free weights, a roller, balls and some therabands.)
My motivation is also different. I have chronic back pain, and I need the exercise so I can get through my day without becoming blindsided by agony. But I also agree with Pressfield when he says…
“In the gym or on the track or the trail, we experience moments of real physical fear. A weight we don’t think we can handle. A hill we’re not sure we can climb. Watch the faces of men and women at CrossFit or any other serious venue of training. See them going deep within, psyching themselves up to overcome the fear, to ready themselves for the pain, to anticipate the level of effort and intensity they’re going to have to summon. That’s the artist’s way. That’s the mindset of the professional, the warrior, the independent operator.”
Writing is not always fun, and it’s seldom easy. Requiring yourself to stick with a task (exercise) that’s challenging is an excellent way to learn how to build sustainable habits, which can then wash over into other areas of your life. Like writing.
