Well, actually that is my personal trainer's mantra. Stephanie seems to think we can do anything for a minute, including running on the treadmill at Mach-80; defeating the dreaded stepmill at Level 8; holding a wall-stand or plank; and/or doing jumping jacks with the medicine ball thrusted over our heads. Needless to say, I'm working on mastering all of those feats at the gym this winter..., but I like the basic premise of the Minute Mantra.
Still, there is NO MINUTE looooonnnger than the one where I am holding a plank or wall-stand for 60 seconds. And then, she says something like, "Push! You're halfway there!" HALFWAY????? Surely she must be lying!!!! Ha! I seriously feel like I'm giving birth in that painful course of time (for lack of a better comparison)--focus..., breathe..., push..., and aaaargh!
Yet as a general rule, a minute happens so fast and passes so quickly without much pageantry! And, as I've recently realized, a minute is so very often taken for granted: one tiny speck of sand in the hourglass of our lives. Remember when we were younger and learned to count it? "One Mississippi, two Mississippi..." Done correctly, and a million different amazing hiding spots could be found during a childish game. The older we got, the more we ignored little increments of time with somewhat reckless and wild abandon. It's funny that many of my pre-teen students even sum-up 60 seconds haphazardly with phrases like, "in a quick minute," or, "in a hot minute." Hot? Maybe. But quick? They obviously haven't met Stephanie! And whether they realize it in their youths or not, just in the time it takes to talk about the length of a minute, one-third of some pretty precious time has passed.
This morning, as I was running Mach-80 on the last minute of the treadmill (following a tough circuit training last night, no less), I was thinking of all the things I can do--without even really registering my movements--for a minute; it is pretty amazing how we loop and/or lope through life in a million 60-second intervals................
I can hold my breath for a minute.
I can swish flouride or mouthwash for a minute.
I can usually hold my tongue... for at least a minute.
I can even listen intently for a minute or more.
I can most often hold back tears for a good minute before excusing myself from a room.
I can warm-up coffee in a minute... along with countless other things in the microwave.
I can walk from one end of my school building to the other in about a minute (which begs the question about why students have 5 minute passing periods to tarry here, there, and everywhere).
I can type at least 40-45 words in a minute (not to mention fire-off a pretty lengthy e-mail).
I can wash my hands for a minute--slightly longer than it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" in my head, which bodes well during Swine Flu season!
I can feed my cats in a minute or under--so routine.
I can probably even get dressed in a minute. (Heck, The Minute Men were ready for battle in that small amount of time... although, if memory serves, they slept in their uniforms!)
I can log-on to the Internet and get to any of my favorite websites or to my e-mail in a minute.
I can probably do 4-5 Google searches in a minute. I can vicariously visit a million places on the Information Superhighway... in just a minute or under!
I can go from a moderate driving speed on city streets to an accelerated speed on the HWY in a minute or less.
I can be at the mall... or at the grocery store... or at the cleaners... in a minute!
I could probably walk to the mailbox and check it twice in a minute!
Alas, I could be here... and then be gone... in a minute. Think about that in terms of leaving the room, leaving the building, leaving the earth. Unbelievable.
I'm sure I could go on-and-on, and perhaps you've thought of other miniscule milestones or magnificent mountains you climb each day in a simple 60-seconds-worth of time. Point being, I am challenged for the remainder of this year and into the next to relish the minutes and moments. When someone says to me in the midst of my harried day, "Do you have just a minute?" I want to smile and say, "You know what? I sure do... and then some!"
Life happens in a minute. As my mom used to say, "Blink and you'll miss it, my dear." So, with my eyes and my heart wide open, I herald you, Mr. Minute. I can do ANYTHING for a MINUTE. Now, if I could just quit doing NOTHING for hours at a time!!!!
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