Mean Brain VS. The Wall

My dear readers, I have finally hit a Wall. You know the Wall - it's the wall that says, "Oh, hi - you can no longer pretend that pizza is a health food." The Wall also says, "Remember how you found out a few years ago that working out is a good thing? Let's try that again." The Wall is not a bad thing.

The bad thing is my Mean Brain. My Mean Brain says things like, "Eh. You're fine," and "Seriously, if you work out at lunch time you're going to be all gross and sweaty and what if you run into someone you know on the way to rehearsal?!" My Mean Brain also calls my body really nasty words all the time.

You guys! I'm sick and tired of those nasty words! I'm also sick and tired of not wearing some things in my closet and feeling sort of worn out and old. So guess what? I'm embracing the Wall.

Mean Brain wants pizza and candy and lots of sitting down. Wall wants kale and yogurt and pilates. Mean Brain wants to come home from rehearsal and have a couple of beers and a good laugh. Wall wants to come home from rehearsal and have some peppermint tea and a good laugh. At least we can all agree on laughing.

Let's talk about the kale for a second, okay? It sounds SO BORING. And it takes a little bit of work. But I actually really like it (and not just because it's trendy). I feel good when I eat it. I feel full. I like how it tastes. I like the kale salad my friend Jeni told me about. Here it is!

Jeni's Kale Salad

* a bunch of kale cut up small
* some quinoa
* some nuts or whatever you like (I'm doing sunflower seeds)
* some dried fruit (I'm doing dried cranberries)

Make some quinoa - it's 2 cups water to 1 cup quinoa. I usually just make about a half a cup at a time and then split that between two servings of the salad.

Okay, the kale: apparently  to make it not gross and hard to eat you have to massage it for a couple of minutes. This step really did not excite me until I did it - YOU GUYS. When you massage it, the kale turns bright green and it's pretty thrilling! Also I find that doing this helps separate the stems from the leafy goodness and then I don't chomp into a piece of kale spine and hate my life.

So massage the kale. Then add in the quinoa and your other things. BOOM. You are done. I don't even think this needs dressing. Go for it if you like, but I think the sweetness of the fruit is enough.

I'm not going to pretend that vegetables are as delicious as cheese or bread or anything else that isn't all that good for you. I'm just saying that if I can override Mean Brain long enough to actually start putting good stuff into my body, I find that I enjoy the good stuff. You guys all probably know this but it's something I have to learn again and again.


I have goals about overriding Mean Brain and embracing the Wall. They are quantifiable and attainable. They are also constructed with full knowledge that there will be days the Mean Brain wins. Goal #1 concludes on my birthday and we are calling it Better at 33 Than 23. Goal #2 concludes in the beginning of September and we are calling it Operation: Pants Off Dance Off. Goal #3 concludes at the end of the year and we are calling it Strong and Steady.

For funsies, here are a few photos from roughly a decade ago.

Better at 33 Than 23 is GO. Screw you, Mean Brain. I can do this.