(Day 3/122 of the experiment)
The third day began with a truly heroic act, namely – waking up at 6:30. For this, I decided to reward myself with three hours of procrastination. I flicked through my Facebook and Instagram feeds, watched funny videos of kittens and puppies, and even read a scientific article about the benefits of sports for the human body. I consider this a victory!
Today, I also published my first post on Instagram. Yesterday, I took such a beautiful photo of a pond surrounded by trees that I couldn't resist sharing it. In the caption, I wrote about my experiment and added hashtags. I also tagged my “judge and fairy” – May. Three hours after posting, my photo received more than 100 likes, and ten people commented that they were proud of me, wanted to follow my transformation process, and asked me to post daily and share my impressions and changes. Here you go, the law of reciprocity – I started the morning with a heroic act, and just a few hours later, strangers wrote that I am their hero.
Inspired by the comments, I geared up for a real workout. Today, I chose yoga. After spending 20 minutes, I found as many as ten yoga instructors in the big city (for such a small city, this number seemed way too high. Do only spiritual people live here?). I settled on a fitness center located in the very heart of the city. This way, I wouldn't get lost and could easily get there. I decided to postpone my walk to the evening to ensure I made it to the yoga class and could write about it tomorrow on my Instagram.
The instructor's name is Lilia. And she really does resemble her floral namesake. She is a slender woman about 35 years old with a friendly smile and a soft voice, perhaps a bit too soft for a yoga instructor.
I rolled out the mat that Lilia kindly offered me and began to observe my “colleagues.” They were different people – young and old, women and two men, but they all shared one thing – absolute tranquility was written on their faces. It seemed like they were in a parallel reality altogether. They silently sat in the lotus position and meditated. At that moment, I felt like a true white crow – I wanted to talk, to get to know someone, to ask whether practicing yoga was difficult, where to go for a good coffee, or where the best bar in the city was. But I was in complete solitude among these people.
I don’t even want to write about the most boring hour and a half of my life. I had the feeling that someone had hit the pause button and time simply stopped. We spent five minutes breathing, then froze in strange poses for another seven minutes – whether it was “cat” or “tree.” My legs began to hurt terribly; I felt that I craved human interaction and active movement. Of course, I tried not to show it, but when the instructor approached me at the end of the class, I realized that all my emotions were written clearly on my face.
“Cinderella, how did you find the class? It seemed to me that you were expecting something a bit different, right?” – Lilia asked absolutely without sadness and with a sincere smile.
“No, everything is great! I just, perhaps, would have preferred something more dynamic. And I felt a bit lonely because I just moved to your city and don’t know anyone here.”
“Cinderella, why are you silent? Would you like to grab a coffee somewhere and have a chat? I understand you so well; I’ve only lived here for three years – I was born in Knoxville and met my husband during my studies, and he has a good job here. That’s why I traded the first capital for the homeland of the great Ukrainian theater.”
“Lilia, I would be very grateful for your company!”
(Day 4/122 of the experiment)
Yesterday evening turned out to be so soulful and great that I came home, watched a couple of YouTube channels recommended by Lilia, read a book, and went to bed at 10:30 PM.
I wrote a post about yoga on Instagram, but it didn’t come out at all like I had planned yesterday. I honestly and openly wrote that yoga isn’t suitable for people like me, who spend most of their lives in a passive state. It seems to me that yoga is designed for super-active people who need time to just sit in a lotus position and reflect on life. I'm not one of those – especially now, when I have four months for self-reflection and understanding. So the post ended up being about why yoga and I are incompatible. As I was writing the text, I got a bit upset because I feel like there’s no type of physical activity in the world that I would enjoy.
*SMS*
Hi! I asked Max, and he has a slot for a personal training session tomorrow. Should I sign you up?
As I mentioned, yesterday Lilia and I had a wonderful time at a café right next to the fitness club. I was drinking delicious sea buckthorn tea and imagining it was wine. We chatted about everything – men, life, my experiment, and sports. And for the first time in a long while, I felt at home. I didn't need to hide behind any accomplishments or pretend to be better than I actually am. I was just Cinderella, who came to an unfamiliar city in search of a better life.
It was Lilia who recommended I not give up and try different types of physical activity. She said I would find something for myself. And her colleague and good friend Maxim happens to work as a trainer at the gym where she teaches yoga.
After confirming my attendance at tomorrow’s sports session, I decided to spend the whole day reading literature and watching videos about proper nutrition.
Proteins, fats, carbohydrates, calories, omega, vitamins A, B, and C – it’s all so interesting! And by controlling my diet, I can reduce my waist size and increase my energy reserves.
During my evening walk (today I even traveled closer to the city and decided to wander through one of the residential neighborhoods), I went into a supermarket and bought my first superfood – avocado. I know it’s one of the most popular products among fitness girls (that's what’s trendy to call girls who are really into a healthy lifestyle), but I had never tasted this fruit myself.
At 8:20 PM, I literally ran home to listen to a few more free lectures from nutritionists before going to bed and to write a post on Instagram. I was so surprised when my old pedometer, which Jensen gave me (it’s his best gift, by the way), showed 11,000 steps! Eleven thousand! With a daily norm of ten! I rewarded myself with a candy and tea for that.