Swedish Ladder
or
How motivated men can be when you feel motivated to move and hang out together.
by Karolina Chic
Fair warning: 2.3 minute read
Photo credit: Syda_Productions – Depositphotos.com
You would think that a very few things can surprise you after 20+ years of marriage. You would think that you know your husband, whom you trust more than anyone in the world, so well that nothing can really shock you. You would think that you can literally predict the next three steps in his thinking process.
Yet, I feel propelled to share with you the unthinkable.
Many of you have been married to the same partner for decades so you will feel for me.
One Wednesday night I mentioned how great it would be to have a place to hang (out) in our basement. Just the two of us. The following night he took me to Home Depot and let me feel a few 1.5 inch thick wooden poles.
On Friday night after he came home from work he dropped about 10 of those poles on the floor alongside two other – rectangular ones.
Then he had dinner (I roasted a whole chicken, just as he wanted), and then it all started.
Drilling sounds, sawing sounds, more drilling sounds.
After two hours he came upstairs all sweaty. He took my hand and led me to our subterranean dungeon.
And there it was!
A custom made Swedish ladder for me to hang on (just as I wanted) and lift my legs and do other repeated movements on it so I can burn all my fat and turn it into pumping flesh every time I flex.
He still hasn’t finished the drawers on that brilliantly designed movable kitchen island he created 8 years! But he finished this bloody Swedish ladder in less than 48 hours after I uttered the words!
Talk about motivation. Men indeed are visual creatures. And I guess he could no longer stand my inner post-Polar-Vortex-still-in-covid-lockdown suffering every time I opened the freezer, took out that charming HÄAGEN-DAZS® Peanut Butter Chocolate comfort food in order to contemplate on my nutritional choices, while loading it into my watering mouth.
Well, I can no longer complain about missing the proper equipment to have the body of Artemis even if we still wake up into drizzling -18C. My procrastination ended. I was conquered by Vikings.
Which brings me to the second part of this piece in all hope that it will help you move even if you don’t have a custom built Swedish ladder torture device installed in your basement.
Procrastination is just a fancy word for bad choices and laziness.
I can say it because I had mastered the skill and then I rather abandoned it. If you found yourself in these lines, now you know that you are not alone.
I had said that I hated running yet there I was on the grassy yard every spring and summer morning or evening in the last three years, running and sweating buckets, feeling incredibly proud of my 8 km run (happened only once) completed in 1 hour and 45 minutes.
I had said that I could live on bread yet there I was ditching it for lettuce, barely willing to touch anything resembling baked goods again.
I had also said, while sitting casually on the couch consuming the said HÄAGEN-DAZS® Peanut Butter Chocolate comfort food, that I can eat whatever I want. I am a woman with a flat stomach and whenever I increase my size (, which automatically decreases my confidence) I can easily hide my wobbly behind and thighs under the A shaped knee length skirts. Yet my body said something in terms of: “Oh really? Ok then. Let’s see about that.”
So there I was, all covid lockdown bubbly, facing the Swedish ladder, (thinking about other Swedish things I could have suggested to my eager-to-please husband instead) dressed for the occasion: neon magenta sports bra, charcoal leggings, neon coral ankle socks and, naturally, matching neon orange/coral/charcoal running shoes.
…doing the right thing. MOVING! Again.
Next reading: Conquest by Color on how colours can motivate you to move and stay fit forever.
Image mentor Karolina Chic doesn’t see the world in black & white. She’s the secret weapon of ambitious public figures, touring authors and public speakers ready to move from coffin chic to custom chic in the blink of her highly-trained colour-focused eye – so they can gain trust and persuade the right audience with their awe-inspiring image.
