Nothing is Ever Right. And That’s Ok.

I admit that I’m always happy to weasel out of exercise. It’s too cold or too hot or I’m too busy. I’ve never understood people who actually love the pain of it. After the treadmill was invented as a prison rehabilitation device 200 years ago. It was intended to make convicts suffer and learn from their exertions, and that’s how I still think of it. Since I’ve been in quarantine, though, I’ve willingly done more yoga in my back bedroom than I’ve done in a class setting over the past few years.

There was only so much Netflix or doom-scrolling I could stand day after day, but I’m still amazed that I decided to commit to 30 Days of Yoga with Adriene online.

The short daily classes helped me rebuild a practice from the ground up without making me whimper -- much. I hate to be one of those yoga-lady clichés, but it has helped me add structure to the amorphous days that blurred into each other without definition. Helped me gradually get back up into Warrior One, bitching the whole time. After the 30 days were up, I just kept going: Hatha Yoga with the Down Dog app, Meditation with Adriene, Yoga Nidra, Ashtanga, Sun Salutations. Something new every day. But still no treadmill.

Nikki Hardin is a writer of stories, musings, and memories. Her poetry has been published in Riverteeth Journal. She was the founder and publisher of skirt!, a monthly women’s magazine in Charleston, South Carolina. You can reach her at nikki@thedailynikki.com.