Feeling the pain of my inability to turn down a challenge

I'm feeling a little foolish this morning. I have a physical reminder of a very silly thing I did yesterday. Somehow, I feel like admitting it to my blogging friends will help a little bit....

So, it all started yesterday afternoon. I teach a piano lesson at my home after school on Tuesday, so I was glad that there was an assembly yesterday afternoon at school. An assembly meant my last class of the day was cancelled, so I had extra time to finish up my end-of-the-day work. That, in turn, meant a little less rushing to get home for the lesson. That would have been great if I had used my extra time a little more wisely. When I got home, though, I realized that I had about 15 minutes of "flex time." So, I sat down in front of the TV to chill for a few minutes. I only get a few channels, so I landed on Oprah.

That is where my trouble started. Oprah had two doctors on as guests. The doctors were going through a lady's home denouncing the evils of the American diet, so I was immediately intrigued. The next shot on-screen was the amazing transformation of the lady after she changed her diet and exercised. She really look amazing. She had lost 45 pounds, and she looked much younger (and I'm sure the fashion makeover and the professional lighting and makeup didn't hurt.)

The doctor then began talking about the danger of belly fat. Belly fat, he said, is caused by stress, and forces your liver to process the fat. This is apparently very dangerous. Then, he started in with the statistics. He gave a magic number for the waist size for women. He said that if a ladies waist is any larger than this, she is in physical danger. I had to know right away whether I was in danger or not, so I grabbed my tape measure. I discovered that my waistline is in the "safe zone." [Whew!]

Next, he started talking about physical fitness and exercise. He said that the average 30-year-old woman should be able to do 45 bent-knee push-ups. By now, I'm sure that anyone who knows me has figured out where this story is going. I simply had to find out whether or not I could do 45 push-ups. So, five minutes before my piano student was scheduled to arrive, I was down on the floor trying it out. Now, I was really proud of myself when I was, in fact, able to do 45 bent-knee push-ups.

Then, I got up and realized how stupid that move really was. You see, I had already agreed to help my friend move last night. The move went pretty well, but it involved more lifting....Let's just say that conducting the afternoon music groups will probably be a little painful today. The fact that I can pat myself on the back for being in the safety zone does take the sting out a little bit. I suppose that's what makes it so hard for me to turn down those challenges, but every time I've had to pick something up today, I've felt the need to curse that character flaw of mine.