"But I was so tired.... But as the months wore on I realized this wasn’t rest anymore. It was becoming my lifestyle. And it wasn’t making me feel better — I felt deeply, unsettlingly worse.... 'Can you have rigor mortis while still alive,' I typed into Google.... There are two kinds of fatigue.... One is when your mind and body are truly tired. The other is when that system tricks you into feeling tired because you are in a rut. When you’re tired, you need rest. But if you’re in a rut, you need to nudge yourself into action.... That’s why so many of us feel like we hit a pandemic wall — the fatigue we faced last spring, the natural reaction to shock and terror, has been replaced by inertia.... Pandemic ennui appears to be reorienting the economy overall, as we channel our angst into massage guns and candles and Fitbits. But the price of fitness is sneakers...."
From "Why I Stopped Running During the Pandemic (and How I Started Again)/Waiting to feel better wasn’t working. I had to act" by Lindsay Crouse (NYT).
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58 comments:
I feel it right now--the combination of winter and being stuck inside, cut off from my usual activities by both, has me watching a lot of TV. Way more TV than I'd like. But the idea of feeling guilty not about the time I'm wasting but about how other people don't have the luxury of wasting time like I do holds no interest for me.
A healthy person with a productive attitude would want other people to have the luxuries I have, not to deny myself the luxuries they lack. This lowest common denominator thinking of today's left is stupid. They look at Harrison Bergeron not as a warning, but as a how-to manual.
A good fuck helps...
A story about an NYC Karen who was too afraid to go outside during the pandemic. WTF? The outdoors is and was probably the safest place to be during the pandemic, especially when you factor in mental health. Was she afraid deBlasio was going to arrest her?
I rode my bicycle over 3,000 miles in 2020, and I am not one of these spandex guys but rather ride to enjoy the day and the scenery while still getting aerobic benefit. It made my year a better one. Also the mindset of the population is more optimistic down here in the Florida panhandle.
Ann, you were running every day and taking beautiful photos of the sunrises over Lake Mendota also. From every comment I have caught, you missed this routine when the brutal cold spell hit the country.
Some of us knew this before the lockdowns, but the lockdown excused many already living the lifestyle, and their voices were amplified by the media.
I felt deeply,
I'm sure she did.
Engaging in sloth is damaging to ones soul and overall state of mind. So, I am told, are Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Envy, and Pride.
Was she afraid deBlasio was going to arrest her?
The closest I came to a physical altercation in 2020 is when some burly guy running down the sidewalk incorrectly believed I was obligated to wear a mask outside.
There's been a couple Karens trying to clear out the gym when there wasn't a mask mandate, too. I admit it has made me think twice about going to the gym...
We hear from the former Mrs. David Mamet and the former Mrs. Jeff Bezos on the same day.
Report from the Bay State: gyms are mostly closed or severely restricted, adult recreation places, closed or severely restricted, youth sports restricted, and kids forced to wear masks while playing. Wonder what the average adult weight gain has been over the past year. Comorbidity, anyone? Whoever coined the term coronavirusmonomania was spot on. NO other heath issues will be considered- only the Corona Chan.
They shut down my Wednesday night hockey group last March- we haven’t played since; the rinks that are open for youth hockey won’t let kids dress in the dressing room; they can only put their skates on inside. I’m 66, and I fear I’ve played my last hockey, dunno if I’ll be able to pick it up after a year off. Not to mention the social aspect, which is a big part of why I play.
Oh, and NESCAC, (New England Small College Athletic Conference) perhaps the premier Division III athletic conference in the country looks to be ready to cancel its spring seasons- The other day I spoke to a couple of local D III lacrosse players at my gym, which is mercifully open, although you have to be masked up 100% of the time. I asked why they weren’t working out at the college- they answered that because they, and most of their teammates live off campus, they can’t use the college’s gym, as they’re not allowed on school grounds, including for classes. NESCAC prices for a U of Phoenix education.
Despair is a sin, and hatred is a sin, but I’m feeling both right now; despair that we will ever be back to normal, and hatred of the politicians and experts who foisted this on us.
52 weeks to flatten the curve...
"Ann, you were running every day and taking beautiful photos of the sunrises over Lake Mendota also. From every comment I have caught, you missed this routine when the brutal cold spell hit the country."
I skipped a bunch of days recently when the wind chill was below zero, and I've also skipped days when the wind was high enough that there was a risk of falling branches. Sometimes I skipped on the day of my Pilates lesson. But, basically, yes, this year, exactly like the previous year, I had an appointment with the sun and I kept it. I kept it in the summer when it meant getting up before 5 and I kept it in the winter when it was 9° and I needed "nano spikes" on my running shoes to be able to run on the icy trail.
Some days I gazed into my navel this way, and other days I gazed into my navel that way.
"That’s why so many of us feel like we hit a pandemic wall — the fatigue we faced last spring, the natural reaction to shock and terror, has been replaced by inertia.... Pandemic ennui appears to be reorienting the economy overall"
WTF? First panickers felt shock and horror, then they imagined a wall, then they moved on to ennui--as the economy already roared back in late 2020 and restaurant employment, of all things, is powering job gains. And several vaccines in less than a year? Some inertia.
Progs just can't let go of their pandemic porn.
I can see why one might lament the loss of organized activities, but this article is a lot of false profundity over a decision as to whether or not just to get off one's ass.
Tim McGuire: I feel it right now--the combination of winter and being stuck inside, cut off from my usual activities by both, has me watching a lot of TV.
Us too. It is called "every winter" here. The weather is bad. Too cold, snowing, wet or muddy to go outside and be active. Business (self employed) is absent in the winter and just now picking up to its usual jam packed speed....every year.
The main difference THIS winter was the Covid lockdown where going on some fun short trips or out to dinner has been difficult or impossible. So with the usual winter isolation we have the idiocy of 'covid'.
So..to stop being totally bored inside we decided to do some of those DIY jobs and fix some issues that have need to be done for 20 years. I am just finishing painting all of the interior trim. (Paint one part and it looks great...then you have to paint the adjoining and then ALL of it!!). We patched some areas in the dry wall and I painted those too. Hung a door...FINALLY...in the walk in closet off the master bath. (More painting). Hubby is re-organizing his work shop building. YES an entire 1400 square foot two story building.
Re-organizing and downsizing....Decided we have too much stuff. Now we have boxes of too much stuff for a future garage sale or donation to a local charity.
So on and so on. There are many things to do besides sit on our asses watching tv or playing with your smart phones all day.
Daskol: I do not believe it’s the same Lindsay Crouse.
Fun Fact: the original former Mrs. David Mamet was in Slap Sot.
I actually lost a bunch of weight in 2020 because working from home gave me better control over my diet, and the time to run during the day on my lunch hour. Then I spent six weeks on the road and gained a bunch back. The lack of social dancing or ability to take classes in the things that interest me has been frustrating and led to some depression.
You are right, Ganderson. The other one is interesting, this one is just a NYT reporter.
I started rowing in February and I love it. Nearly 150,000 meters.
I skipped a bunch of days recently when the wind chill was below zero, and I've also skipped days when the wind was high enough that there was a risk of falling branches.
It's great that you loved it so much you skipped, instead of just running.
Here in Michigan, Witchmer shut down the rinks in November, we took a month off, and our rink opened back up before she changed her mind. All the teams came back in the adult D league I skate in. Our county supervisor basically said he wasn't going to enforce at the rate the state expected him to because his sheriff deputies had more important things to do, like stopping real crime.
Tcrosse at 8:16 made me smile.
I read the article and didn’t mind reading it (not always or even often the case with the NYT), but what does it have to do with the pandemic? /sarc—I know what it’s supposed to say about the pandemic, but the fact that those who engage in unhelpful or self-destructive behavior need to try something else is always true. The pandemic (which, per Scott Adams recently, was only a pandemic for the obese) has made people feel that their mundane observations are momentous insights.
It's great that you loved it so much you skipped, instead of just running.
Heh.
This Fall, I started daily 5-6 mile hikes during the pandemic. Its beautiful outside here in Tucson and there are a lot of places with gorgeous scenery to hike. I dropped most of the weight I put on at the beginning of WuFlu season.
In contrast to Althouse, Winter is the best time to be outside here. I often run into Karens wearing masks when no one is within 30 feet. When people pass on the street or a path, the custom is to stand to the side or walk in the street. I follow that protocol just to be polite.
Some of the mask wearers give non-wearers a dirty look. I assume that those are the activist Democrats.
A good fuck helps...
——————-
No way with mine. Not even with yours, especially after discovering this is not David Mamet’s ex. House of Games highly recommended.
Sounds like garden-variety depression.
But it is tough to get off the couch.
I have been bemused by the people I know in NY (where my company HQ is) who almost never left their homes over the past year.
I run...a lot...40-80 miles/week, depending on how close I am to the race for which I am training. The only benefit I see from the Chinese Pox Panic is that weekend travel no longer interferes with my really long runs. I have no time for the occasional dumbass who screams at me, "STAY BACK," as I approach on a trail (never wear a mask). And I am alternately amused and disgusted by the ignorant submission of the sheep wearing a mask while outside in 70 degree sunshine.
That a free people so willingly submitted to the Calvinball of the past year (two weeks, remember?) is depressing. To hear people say that the new goal is now that no one will contract this virus is mind-boggling to me. What next? People die from all sorts of communicable disease. Will we continue this behavior forever?
"Some days I loathed myself for loathing my time on the couch when others didn’t have the option. Some days I loathed myself for liking it."
Pinching a loath?
Jeez. The NYT really is just filled with crap, isn't it? Navel-gazing, self-adulating crap.
I miss the New Yorkers of yesteryear.
Callahan- your squad have any use for a slow center with bricks for hands? Oh, and a shot that couldn’t crack an egg?
I only run when something is chasing me, but I haven't been stuck inside the last year, I have walked all over, taken the trains and photographed NYC for my site forgotten-ny.com. I'm still surprised that people have willingly jailed themselves.
This pandemic has been very bad for me. I just sit around the house. Oh wait, I am retired and can sit around the house and not worry about some job.
But Spring is coming and I get to get out and do yard work, my real job in life. And yes I love it.
I can see why the quality commenters have leaked away one by one.
My wife and I decided that we were immune to teh batflu, so we traveled around Caliunicornia and the Southwest as often as we could, supported our fave local restaurants and businesses as much as possible, took our daily walks and helped family and friends when needed.
I just think that the comments here have started to preponderately suck. The few good ones take too much wading through the dreck.
I can't read behind the paywall, but if her excuse for stopping running was that she was afraid of catching COVID, then she is just a fucking idiot not worth reading.
Report from Karenland.
I'm tired of [the boring life imposed by Karens] my personal choice to stay safer at home where there's nothing to do, which choice merely happens to coincidently coincide with Karenland Mandates. And my thoughts coincide with KarenlandTodayThoughts. How does that work?
At the Karenland border 4,000 people cross every day and 6.3% have Covid [so once again Democrats are sending sick people in among the healthy - a Karenland NotYetThink. 4000 New Karenlanders since January 25 = 38 days x 4000 = 152,000 x 6.3% = 9576 new covid cases. All these cases bought in from South America, home of one of the new variants, not counted, scattered into Anywhere, USA. But I, a true Karenlander, don't "know" this.] It isn't "knowledge" till the NYT says it is.
[You Flatlanders want to say that one can't reconcile the idea that New Karenlanders with Covid are not dangerous with the idea that the schools in big Dem cities mostly likely to be teaching minorities and children of New Karenlanders are too dangerous to open.]
But one doesn't have to reconcile contradictions in one's own mind in order to keep one's own self-respect when one lives in Karenland. We Karenlanders just wait for NYT to tell us it's safe to think any given thought. Meanwhile, we keep NotYetThoughts masked, lying on the couch in our inner minds where flickering shadows softly come and go till they become NowYouThinks.
A Karen will obviously want to skip this thread altogether.
Totally got into snowshoeing this winter, it's a real butt kicker. The microspikes are great for ice trail hill running and hiking while YakTrax are better for packed snow about 20-25miles per week. Swimming 2,800-yard workouts 3-5days a week at the community center.
Built a basement gym with three kettlebells, dip bars, pull-up bar and an aerobics step all laid out on heavy rubber mats that connects together.
During the pandemic I've made over a dozen new workout friends.
I have yet to run into a "Karen". People that complain of all the Karens should consider their own insecurities may be manifesting the phenomenon.
Does the NYT carry this many First World Problems essays, or do you just get drawn to them as a moth to a flame, Ann, knowing that there is likely to be some sharp logical or character weakness that is worthy of lampooning?
I can't read these things, because I quickly revert to wanting to scream at these people. I have children from those fucking Romanian orphanages you saw on 20/20. We are on prayer chain where people have children dying but the doctors still can't figure out why. I worked forty years in acute psychiatric emergencies of many decent lives now falling apart because of the mental illness of one player. Can you please just join a local Get A Life Club? Every time I start feeling sorry for myself - and I do have that tendency - something happens in the next 24 hours to remind me I've got an absolutely spectacular life compared to some poor bastard with undeserved suffering. Hell, even deserved suffering. I deserve some myself, and have eluded it..
Brave, brave Sir Howard tries mocking the exact people he claims are behaving like he claims to.
You need to get out more, Yancey and stop smelling your own farts.
I woke up this afternoon
I saw both cars were gone.
I felt so low down deep inside
I threw my drink across the lawn.
Why do people write about this crap? Who cares if you stopped running or started up again? Big f'ng deal. I took up golf cuz I was bored. Does anybody want to read 1500 words about my new love of golf? Of course not.
Why are people so full of themselves?
Wow, Kevin Walsh, I have long loved your forgotten-ny site! Such a great site for lovers of NYC.
You want some credibility, Howard- then write a comment that the Karens were, in fact, wrong in the policies that they pushed. Don't call people "mask pussies" while also writing comments about going pond swimming. Such contradictions make you look ridiculous, and I consider you about the best commenter we get here from the left side.
I like the nostalgia and wonder at the mixing of the old and new, commemorating what is lost but without the outright bitterness of, say, that other guy who documents a vanishing NY (although Moss has great stuff too).
@PM
Blind Lemon Pledge
Yancey: What is the contradiction? I get out every day and enjoy life meet people visit my kids and grandkids, go shopping, volunteer at the community center practice distancing and mask use when needed and don't complain about the inconveniences.
She probably should have killed herself.
For the benefit of society.
Howard said...
I have yet to run into a "Karen". People that complain of all the Karens should consider their own insecurities may be manifesting the phenomenon.
I was just making a common observation Howard. I run across Karens every single day.
My purpose was not to offend you despite the obvious fact that your purpose is to deliberately offend Althouse readers.
>>Some days I gazed into my navel this way, and other days I gazed into my navel that way.
Bravo, Paco. Perfect.
Agreed, Paco: Perfect comment.
Some days I loathed myself for loathing my time on the couch when others didn’t have the option. Some days I loathed myself for liking it.
While I don't generally condone self-loathing, in this case it seems justified
That's my point Francisco. If you run into Karens every day, then it's most likely you are the asshole.
You can't run from your self-loathing forever. Sooner or later, the knees or or back or shins give out, and then what? Best to get comfortable in your own skin. You can sit, or walk or even run with that.
"I like the nostalgia and wonder at the mixing of the old and new, commemorating what is lost but without the outright bitterness of, say, that other guy who documents a vanishing NY (although Moss has great stuff too)."
I don't approach Forgotten NY with a political agenda. I have supported Jeremiah in the past, I agree with him on some things, but tourists and tourism aren't the enemy. The only occasions I really complain are when developers tear down beautiful buildings and put up junk.
Howard said...
That's my point Francisco. If you run into Karens every day, then it's most likely you are the asshole.
You have no point Howard.
You are just an insignificant little twit who is trying to feel good about a failed life.
The only occasions I really complain are when developers tear down beautiful buildings and put up junk.
Hear hear.
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