@bettyraene I agree with you, I think it has to do something with the pursuit of being perfect - if I'm drinking at a bar with friends I cant work out at the same time. Or read a book that will make me learn something. Or I can't help others. Basically if someone asks "so what did you do yesterday" and the answer is not something that makes you look like someone who tries to improve themselves then you might be ashamed a bit.
It's like in today's world there is no time to simply have fun for the sake of having fun. You HAVE to work on advancing your career, life, relationship or whatever. Aaand then so many people get burned out/depressed because they are not perfect
@haithai01 I'll second what a few people have said and suggest trying to workout before work for a week or two and see how you feel, if it's do-able. I had been doing morning workouts for months, but shifted to after work, due to scheduling and just realized that I think it was a big factor in why I was so unmotivated and felt like I was burning the candle at both ends. I'm more motivated to wake up earlier if it's for something I enjoy. I also find that with a little pre-workout, I can get better workouts than if I wait until after work. Then, I have the evenings to do what I want and don't feel like I'm making much of a sacrifice. Hope this helps!
@haithai01 Do you have any flexibility in that routine? If there’s an event on Friday night, could you move that workout to Saturday instead? Other people have mentioned working out in the morning— even if that’s not ALWAYS an option, would it be workable for certain circumstances?
Having a routine is great, and if it leads you to decline last-minute happy hours or plans that weren’t too enthused about, great! But you have to leave yourself some wiggle room. If you are turning down every invite, every time, for events that you really would like to attend, then you are damaging your own social life. Leave yourself a little bit of leeway to work out Wednesday morning and then go to trivia night, or skip Friday so that you can have a nice dinner (and go Saturday instead).
Edit: I realized you said MTWFS, not M-F as I said...the general idea stands. Switch up your rest days every once in awhile.
@haithai01 Generally, I only do stuff on the weekends with my friends. If they want to do a happy hour or something in the middle of the week and it's on one of my workout days, I probably won't go. Unless it's a special event like a concert. I just remember everyone else also have their own priorities and they're not always going to everything either. It doesn't really bother me, I have plenty of time on the weekends to hang out with everyone--and weekends are also mostly when my friends want to hang out too. Everyone has their own busy schedules.
@jrumsticks Yeah, same here. It's unusual for me and my friends to do something during the week. If I'm going out than it's mostly only concerts or cinema with my BF and with 3 workouts during the week (+1 on the weekend) I am flexible enough for that.
@haithai01 Does your gym have a shower? Can you not hop in the shower there, bring a post-workout protein bar, and then meet your friends by 7:30-8? That schedule doesn’t seem particularly crazy to me. You could also just go before work.
As for how I deal with FOMO - I don’t, honestly. I work 9-6ish generally, so I just plan ahead and make my social engagements work around my schedule. I either go to the gym before work (or earlier in the day on weekends) or make plans slightly later.
@haithai01 Forget a social life... It's dating that takes a huge hit, especially if you begin talking to someone who doesn't really quite get your lifestyle or what amount of work you put into looking the way you do that somewhat made them attracted to you (because let's face it... physical attraction is part of the equation.)
@dawn16 Thankfully I have a bf who gets the whole gym thing. Plus we live 30+ minutes apart so I don't see him much on the weekdays, which is when most of my workouts are.
@haithai01 That's actually a pretty sweet setup. I'm torn on the idea of dating someone who would also be a member of my gym, as I've seen some couples fizzle out and it usually results in someone being exiled from the place they'd been a member of for years, but it would be nice to be with someone who has their own workout style or at least gets it. Did you two meet traditionally, or is this one of those online dating success stories where you both knew ahead of time of your respective lifestyles?
@dawn16 haha actually we met through instagram. been together 2.5 years about. thankfully we go to different gyms, because I could definitely see that being a problem for couples who break up
@haithai01 Instagram! Man, I feel so out of the loop of the way people meet these days, because I can't imagine how that would even happen. Did you creep on each other's posts and slip into the DMs or something? I don't post selfies of myself readily, nor is my profile public, so it wouldn't benefit me I suppose.
@dawn16 Actually that’s exactly how it happened. There’s a whole social dance to it. Usually the guy follows the girl first. Then she follows him back. That’s the first kind of “ok, you’re cute, I’ll follow, but I’m got boing to make the move after this”. Then he likes around two of her selfies. No more than 3 though cuz then that’s gets a little stalker ish. Now the ball is in her court. If she likes his selfies back, she’s interested. She can like around 3 selfies. And maybe throw in a non-selfie for good measure. Now he “slides into the DM’s” as the youths say. As long as he doesn’t open with something weird or creepy, she’s likely to respond.
@haithai01 I am old too. Like 28. My hubs and I met 8 years ago - pre-instagram. I appreciate this bc now I know how ppl meet in todays world. My hubs and I just met by chance in person. Luckiest lady ever to have met my hubs/bff by total chance.
@haithai01 Lots of people have mentioned this but it's about prioritizing what's most important to you. I work 8-5 as well and if my friends have plans at 6:30/7 I'll prep ahead, go straight to the gym from work, shower at the gym and either bring my protein or grab a protein shake at my gym. Like others mentioned I also try to be flexible with shifting my rest day (normally Wednesday) back and forth if there's an event on a different day. I initially chose Wednesday because it's the only night of the week a friend of mine doesn't have soccer so she's free, my boyfriend also went with a Wednesday rest day, and several of our other friends are adjusting their schedules too. Basically talk to your friends, be flexible where you can, and try to plan ahead if there are things you don't want to miss. If you're doing that some of the time and then you're missing things other times because the gym is more important that's fine too!
