Body, Mind, and Soul

Eva, my pink bike in St. Louis

For some people – my family and some good fellows – found the fact that I’m having hypertension was quite shocking news. Among family and friends, I was known as a person, who exercises regularly and eats properly. In addition, I’m a semi-vegetarian for the last two years (I avoided red meat and chicken). I always picked the best foods I could get. Everyone around me always teased me as “ a person who always eat healthy foods, while others eat craps - J

I like extreme sports:

I ran a few miles almost everyday (when the weather was nice). Even I was planning to run in marathon.

I biked a lot (you can imagine biking from Mansion Hill to school, it felt like biking from one hill to another).

I did some weightlifting. I did aerobic.

St. Vincent Greenways

I walked a lot – I walked everywhere. And my farthest track was 12 miles in one day!

Well, I used Pedometer on my Ipod to count how many steps I ran or walked (then I converted into miles), I posted on daily miles sites what I got at last. I would happily see how many calories I could burn in one day. I was so obsessed of being healthy all the time (it’s impossible, normal people got sick although I did not get any sick in St. Louis for two years). I loved doing these stuffs since my house was surrounded by two bike and running trails: Ted Jones and St. Vincent Greenway.

I started to exercise regularly in 2007 when I found out that I was almost 60 kg and my body was so heavy. I got so exhausted easily. I felt my body system was so wrong. I told myself: “Hey, you need to do something (read: exercises) before it’s too late”. Since my father got stroke when he was so much young, I was afraid of being so. Then I decided to do some sports regularly. I did sports just for fun, but I could loose some weight. J

I did not remember when I could not longer enjoy sports as things to have fun, but merely a compulsory. I HAVE TO EXERCISE. PERIOD!!!

When I got back to Indonesia, I soon rejoined my old gym. I went to the gym five times a week – each day I spent around two hours exercising: combining running, biking, and weightlifting, and sometimes with aerobic too. I was quite obsessed with “working on my muscle.

I pushed myself too hard – maybe since long time ago, I did the same.

But I forgot two things to build: MIND and SOUL.

I never had a quiet mind. My mind was always busy thinking – and might be over thinking. I never let my mind resting; especially for the last two years.

My soul was so barren – I’ve been far away from God for a quite sometimes. I never had peace in heart. My heart was too busy as well t o get what I want – I have too much wants.

I was just so busy, too busy. Never resting. I was always rushing. Rushing.

Then, my body, mind, and soul screamed at the same time: STOP IT, I COULD NOT STAND IT ANYMORE!

Now, I began to understand the balance of  body, mind, and soul. I focused on “body” for so long, but ignored “mind and soul”. I made exercises/sports no longer as a medium to have fun like it used to be. I could not do that. I need to balance it with rekindle mind and soul.

PS: Dr. Huh suggested me to stop running and biking (at least for three months).