.jpg "Britta Huegel")
Dear You,
we are still melting away in Berlin - on our balcony we had 38°C yesterday, and in the evening we are all happy to manage just to reach the Viktoria-Luise-Platz (two streets further) if necessary on all fours and order a cool Weißbier and look at the beautiful fountain of this "Adornment Place", as the creator of the Bavarian Quarter called the many little places with fountains, greens and benches created at 1900 for the benefit of the brave bourjeois.
But lifting the tall beer-glass is not enough to stay fit!
Yours Truly - always easily in love with a new technical gimmick - possesses the Nike + Fuel band for about 5 months now. Enough time to find out that it is
- inaccurate (when I wear a tote bag in my right hand and wear the Fuel band on my right wrist - it doesn't count my steps correctly, it counts less)
- more than inaccurate - downright lying! and frivolous superficial: when I am pushing heavy weights at the fitness studio, I get less points than I get for preparing breakfast
- competitive (well, that I might be too) - it tells you in the evening, when you connect it with your computer how well you managed in relation to your age-group (I am much better!) and in relation to all Nike + Fuel Band users (among them the 17 year old sport addicts - guess: I am much better!). These points are absolute numbers, not influenced by your age.
- In my defence I can offer: except this one time I don't boast about it. Really - I don't. Neither do I post my sensational points on Facebook (and bore you stiff) nor on Google + (and bore you stiff). Yes, one can do that, but I don't.
If this little gadget has so many faults - and a pedometer would do the trick as well - why do I love it?
Well - in the beginning husband was very surprised to hear me chirp: "No, you don't have to go to the grocer's - I'll do it!" and woosh I was away - I still needed 176 points to reach my "GOAL! GOAL! GOAL!" Very untypical for me, I even offered to bring down the garbage! (He got a bit anxious then).
The garbage is his task again... BUT: my psyche is constructed in such a simple way that it helps to look at my fuel band to make me walk and move more. And that is a good thing, simple or not. This Lady thrives on praise - and that it gives frequently. Sometimes a bit - hilariously: I'll never forget when my orthopaedist told me I should rest my knee (later my ankle - both well again, thank you) - and just at this moment the Fuel band blinked in big letters: "GO, BRITTA, GO!" (It won).
Ah - and I even learned something for 'Life as Such':
when I first put my GOAL! GOAL! GOAL!!! very high, I reached it every time, but with gritted teeth. Now I lowered the goal for a third, reach it every time, am happy - and march on, thus reaching the former high goal of the past almost every time - but with the smug self-satisfaction of thinking: I hadn't to do this.
And that's a good thing to learn for other aims in my life too.
I can't tell which is more fun, the completely engaged with every song they sang trio Peter, Paul and Mary, or Brigitta singing the praises of her little bracelet. She also does not know exactly what is does, she thinks she never will, and is not fussed.
ReplyDeleteDear Joanne,
Deleteyes, you got the gist of the whole thing: it is a "charm" bracelet, must be, when it gets me going :)
And I like the way you combine us all together very, very much!
If it gives you so much get up and go and you reach your goals then it has got to be a great little toy Britta - it is sweltering here too, I have no energy whatsoever - may be I need one of your little toys too.
ReplyDeleteDear Rosemary,
DeleteOne can easily motivate me the way the fuel band does i- "fuelling". And I can keep on - that's the second thing, sort of discipline, though at todays' temperature that is almost a bit much to ask.
Try it, Rosemary - it looks good (when you choose it with a silver or gold clasp).
Dear Brigitta,
ReplyDeleteIt has been about 40° to 42° C. here and ALL my toys are lying to me! Oh, perhaps I am just cranky from the heat, but above a certain temperature it is excusable to suspect insurrection in one's toys. I gather my courage and await evening --best wishes to you
Dear Geo.,
ReplyDeletenow that tops our heat by far! (The balcony is a sheltered space where the heat accumulates in the 3 walls around it) - outside we have "only" 28 - 30°C.
So I feel very much with you - yesterday I sat more than I moved, but after first astonishment I thought: my body might be wiser than I. (I trust it more than the Fuel band in the end :)
But in the evening we all lighten up - like the beautiful little fireflies you described once. Have a nice flight - err: night.
Now this is definitely a life lesson for all of us: "Now I lowered the goal for a third, reach it every time, am happy - and march on, thus reaching the former high goal of the past almost every time - but with the smug self-satisfaction of thinking: I hadn't to do this."
ReplyDeleteDear Sue,
Deletethank you for emphasising my 'insight'. Seein Suze' comment answering it , I will write a new post about that question.
All I imagine is that you lead the pack, Britta, and not just in your age group. Am I right? :)
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Susan's comment, I would like to add that a goal which does not evolve is a static thing which loses all relevance. We must reach for goals appropriate to the moment--dynamic, meaning-intense, real.
DeleteDear Suze,
Deletethank you. I'm trying to relax a bit - which makes one nicer, I think. :)
Ah - and I find your second comment so interesting that I will discuss it in a new post, thank you for that, too!
DeleteI have heard of those bracelets but have never seen one. Whatever one feels helps is a good thing. The Marvelous Toy is another of my favorite songs. It is one that I include when compiling CD's for my grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteDear Emma,
ReplyDeletethank you for your comment! Your grandchildren will like the song, I'm sure. I'm glad to see you here.