Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Slogging and Blogging

It has been a notoriously inconsistent week for me. Due to Ironman racing, my personal commitment of blogging daily for the next three years seems challenging to observe. Instead, my mild compromise is to post enough for each month, making up for the moving average of such a journalistic task. I apologise to loyal readers for, perhaps, sighing in scant disgust of my non-appearance, so to speak.

Slogging is a term for doing things that may be debilitating in its persistence. We may slog at work, at chores, and the myriad mundane activities that surround us. Yet, slog we must if we are to deliver on expectations, such as put food on the table as we plough through the insanity of a regular job which has long exceeded its interest for us.

In endurance sports, we may slog as we drag our weary body through the motions of inching forward, be it in the water or wind, and against the ground. Yet, slogging need not be a thankless and mindless activity; it can be a form of discipline, that pits our mind and body with the external environment. It is only when we slog, and we lose track of proper technique that our performance may suffer. Poor technique can lead to permanent damage. The brain learns quickly how to take it easy, even if this approach may damage us somehow in the long run. Improper practice leads to permanence!

What do you slog at each day? How often do you find yourself slogging? When has slogging at something added value to your life? Can we create purposeful slogging?

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