Adrienne Jerram

Adrienne Jerram

Friday, February 1, 2013

The green thumb

Earlier this year the lovely Alistair and I downsized so we could move back to the Inner West. One of the consequences is that our house is smaller than some of those American trailers you see on TV and our garden is even smaller.

But despite it's size, our garden is blooming. The Gardenia's are bright green and pregnant with new growth, the star jasmine is spiraling up the front of the house and the frangipani, put in only months ago, looks like it's been in for years.

As I walked past our tiny patch on the way to train this morning I thought to myself. 'That husband of mine has such a green thumb.'

The mind -numbing hour I spent on the exercise bike (thank you, rain, for spoiling my Saturday ride) gave me time to think. 'Green thumb' intimates some special, innate ability, a talent, a quality that somehow makes it easier for him to grow a garden than the rest of us.

The truth is he works hard on that tiny patch of greenery. He is always out digging and watering and generally tending it. In fact when I got into the house he was reading up on pruning gardenias.

So, what does this have to do with fitness? Well ... it's pretty easy to cop out of things by thinking that you're 'just not that type of person' or even 'it's easier for  XXX (insert name here) they are good at that kind of thing'.

The truth is that we never see all that is behind people's achievements.

I'm no 'green thumb' but I'm sure I could make a garden grow if I put the effort into it. Labels like 'green thumb' and 'natural athlete' and 'naturally slim' are veils that hide the slog that goes into achieving goals, and they make people think they are somehow not capable, when, with effort, they are. And all too often they are used as reasons not to try.

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