Every January I find myself preaching the advantages of hibernation. I tend to daydream about what it would be like to avoid the dark freezing days and instead have a gorgeous long warm cuddly snooze waking in the spring with renewed hope and a belly ready for a big feed.
This year I subconsciously took the plunge. For the last fortnight I have basically hibernated. I would race home after work, turn up the heating, get under a rug and spend the rest of the evening alternating between watching TV and napping. Occasionally, if I needed to warm my bones I’d have a long lazy bath with lots of bubbles and an entertaining book.
On Saturday I got up so late in the day that it was beginning to get dark again and it was at that moment I reluctantly realised I can’t wait for this elusive Spring any longer – I have to wake myself up! Quit the sleepatahon, get some exercise and start planning for the year ahead. My first goal was to go back to sweaty yoga, which I did yesterday – the first time in a month. Afterwards I felt totally energised – full of life and optimism. Why didn’t I do this sooner I wondered – it’s so much better than hibernating. I felt so alive!
But that was yesterday. This morning as I fell out of bed I realised that just about every muscle in my body ached. For the last month the most I’d stretched was my arm to the back of the fridge or my index finger on the remote control. Yesterday’s yoga session had my body declaring a state of emergency. Looking at my computer screen at work I noticed that now even my neck muscles ache, not to mention a bizarrely localised spot on my ribs that was protesting yesterday’s activity with a dull throb.
I’m comforting myself with the thought that I’ll be able to flee home to the warm safety of my couch in only a few hours. Spring doesn’t officially start for ages yet, I could easily fit in another few weeks of serial napping.
Conortje 
