I am definitely a lot more physical than sedentary. Even though throughout my life I have spent a lot more time sitting in classrooms than running in fields. I have great fantasies of that one day I will work to my physical limits. I totally agree with Braid in her essay "A Plea for the Physical" that when you put your hands in dirt, you feel truly alive. In many of my daily activities, I'm detached from the earth. I use the internet, take buses and watch TV. Its true that humans live in a fantasy world. However, after I have spent half the day in front of my computer screen I do not feel emotionally satisfied. No matter how much fun I had in that artificial world, it all fell apart as soon as I shut down my computer. On the other hand, anytime I do something physical I feel alive and connected. The soreness and sweating afterwards remind me that I have been stepping on the ground, and that i was actually having fun.
Recently, I have started to go to the gym and body build. The exercises that I have been doing are more intense than I have ever done. Every night I stand in front of the mirror, flex my muscles, and see formation of strength and beauty. The pain I feel at the gym has made my workouts far more real than being on the internet. Also, working out builds my confidence. I agree with Braid when she says," Thats why carpenters and mountaineers walk with a certain confidence. We push to the physical limits and survived." Those muscles are my achievement, they will not disappear when I wake up in the morning. Now when I walk, I walk with greater confidence, as if I was one of "the carpenters and mountaineers and farmers" that have survived.
