I love working out. I get a great energy from it and I get a great blast of relaxation as well. I can sleep right after or I can go give a high-energy presentation. It all depends on the context. I used to do the treadmill all time until I horrifically injured my knee.  I used to run and walk and sweat up a good storm.   But not everything could continue in the same old ways. As a result of my injured knees I started doing the elliptical.

Now, I can’t live without it. Everyday at 6:00 am I go get on the elliptical and dream of grand vacations, honeydew, and revenge. I’m just kidding on the revenge part. When I am working out, I suppose to many, I display a bit of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). I get on the machine and then I immediately put the machine’s television on, select a playlist on my iPod cranking up the music, and I start reading the twitter feed on my phone. Yes, while working out I am monitoring four things at once when you include the work out statistics on the monitor. I use all this stimuli to help me ramp up my workout and expend more calories.

Meanwhile at my particular gym, there are two guys who often want the elliptical that I use. I try to get there before them and almost always succeed. Although, occasionally I am a little slow and end up having to take the elliptical next to one of them.   It seems like every morning we are competing against one another. Who needs that stress while pumping up one’s heart rate?  Anyway, I recently lucked out. The television screens stopped working on the elliptical machines. All of them. And they haven’t been fixed.

I have contemplated completing a maintenance form requesting that they be fixed.  However, I have come to realize that i can make lemonade out of my elliptical lemons situation.   Because the television monitor isn’t working one of the other guys no longer tries to use the elliptical. Apparently, he can’t work out without the television.   Score! While, I use a lot of stimuli, I can certainly forego the television.   These days, the news is too stressful, nonsensical, and/or repetitive.  Plus, I still have my phone and my iPod. I’m good for I also have my metaphorical lemonade to get me through my workout. Thus, I am not alerting the staff that the television isn’t working. Meanwhile, I get the machine to myself with no pressure.

Here’s to making lemonade out of lemons. It can happen in any situation.