16 march 2025, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2677: physical energy

Physical Energy: Notes of a Lazy Man Trying to Be Diligent

I am actually a very lazy person. If I were to make a graph, my laziness level would probably be through the roof. But strangely, whenever I am asked about physical energy, I always pretend to be an expert. "Ah, that's easy, just exercise regularly!" I would say in a patronizing manner, while sitting relaxed on the sofa with a pack of potato chips.

The problem is, this physical energy cannot be lied to. It is like a neighbor who knows exactly when we are lying. When I was in elementary school, my physical energy was like a nuclear reactor - never-ending. I could run around the complex three times, fly kites until the afternoon, and still be able to fight over the TV remote with my older sibling when I got home.

Now? Just going up two flights of stairs makes me out of breath like a hippopotamus after a marathon. "Gosh, why are these stairs getting higher?" I complained to myself. In fact, it was not the stairs that had gotten higher, but the number on my scale.

One day, in an effort to "improve myself", I decided to take a yoga class. People say yoga is calming. But on the first day, I felt like a pretzel being forced into a Z shape. The instructor calmly said, "Take a deep breath..." I wanted to take a breath, how can my feet be above my head like this?

I also tried jogging in the morning. I woke up at dawn, put on new sneakers (which I bought three months ago and were still smooth), and started jogging enthusiastically. The first five minutes felt like an Olympic athlete. The sixth minute? I stopped at the nearest coffee shop. "I'll take a short break, while I have coffee," was the classic self-justification.

What's funny is how this physical energy can suddenly appear in certain situations. For example, when I hear there's a big sale at the mall. Suddenly my body, which was previously weak and powerless, can change to being as fast as The Flash. Or when the deadline for an assignment is only an hour away - I can suddenly type at a speed of 200 words per minute!

It reminds me of what my grandmother used to say, "Physical energy is like savings in a bank, if you never save it, it will never be enough." Unfortunately, I am more often a customer who likes to keep withdrawing until I get an administration fee. I mean, draining my energy continuously until my body protests by giving me a bonus of getting the flu.

But seriously, this physical energy is indeed a valuable asset. Just imagine if we didn't have the energy to wake up in the morning, to laugh, or even to watch Netflix? Life feels like a cellphone whose battery is always at 1%.

So now I'm starting to learn to appreciate this physical energy. Go to bed earlier (although I still often fail because I scroll through TikTok), eat more regularly (although sometimes the regularity is in the context of snacking regularly), and exercise occasionally (at least moving my thumb to double tap Instagram).

And while writing this, I realized that physical energy is actually like a loyal best friend. It will be there if we take good care of it, but it can get angry if we ignore it. So... maybe it's time for me to start seriously maintaining this "friendship".

Eh, but I'll start tomorrow. Today I'm still tired from writing the article. Want to lie down first...

(And so, the plan to maintain physical energy is postponed again, like a diet plan that always starts "tomorrow"...)

[Image generated with the help of Meta AI!]