Apathy is its own reward at New Year

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'(^|;) ?' + cookie_name + '=([^;]*)(;|$)' ); if ( results ) return ( unescape ( results[2] ) ); else return null; } function getCiTitle(channelsid){ var name='title:'; var start =name.length ; var titles=channelsid.substring(start,channelsid.indexOf("|")); return titles; } function getCiLink(channelsid){ var link='link:'; var linkStart = link.length; var linkChannelsid = channelsid.substring(channelsid.indexOf("link:"),channelsid.length); var ciLink=linkChannelsid.substring(linkStart,linkChannelsid.indexOf("|")); return ciLink; } </script> <div class="grid-8 push-4"> <div class="article" id="top"> <h1 class="headline">Apathy is its own reward at New Year</h1><p class="byline"><a href="/web/20110107072914/http://www.thenational.ae/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=e8f7e91672448210VgnVCM200000e66411acRCRD">Gemma Champ</a> <script type="text/javascript">  </script></p> <p class="last-updated">Last Updated: Jan 4, 2011</p> <p> <p>How easy it is to fall off the treadmill, and how hard to drag yourself back on again. When it comes to willpower, if I give my body or mind an inch of relaxation, it takes a mile of apathy, and the last four weeks have provided a flurry of examples.</p> <p>Work, for one thing. I took a week off at the beginning of December, rushed around a freezing Britain fitting in as many people and occasions as possible, and then returned to the UAE with a hacking cough and a sleeping-in habit.</p> <p>Back to work? Well, sort of. I was late almost every morning for a week. I spent large amounts of time "ploughing through my email backlog" (translation: staring vacantly at the screen wondering why women of my mother's generation fought so hard for their daughters to be shackled to a computer station instead of being chained to the kitchen sink).</p> <p>I toyed with doing my expenses but got distracted by a press release about the online sale at Net-a-Porter.com.</p> <p>Then there's exercise. I've been playing tennis every week, come shine or shine, for the past year. I quailed at the prospect of playing at the height of August, but still I refused to be daunted.</p> <p>Yet, since returning from Britain, not one tennis lesson have I had. Not once have I called my coach. And in no way are my flu symptoms sufficiently severe to justify this.</p> <p>There is only one explanation: sloth. Specifically the pygmy three-toed sloth I was cooing over on Animal Planet at the very moment that I should have been hailing a taxi to the Abu Dhabi Country Club.</p></p> <div class="ad-mpu">      <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ if(typeof(ord) == 'undefined') {var ord = ''; } if(typeof(surroundTag) == 'undefined') { var surroundTag = ''; } if(typeof(article) == 'undefined') { var article = ''; } if(typeof(category) == 'undefined') { var category = ''; } if(typeof(demographics) == 'undefined') { var demographics = ''; } if(typeof(vars) == 'undefined') { var vars = ''; } if(typeof(meta) == 'undefined') { var meta = ''; } if(typeof(Comp_Name) == 'undefined') { var Comp_Name = ''; } if(typeof(Country_Name) == 'undefined') { var Country_Name = ''; } if(typeof(Team_Name) == 'undefined') { var Team_Name = ''; } if(typeof(category) == 'undefined') { var category = ''; } if(typeof(admcdfp_sitelang) == 'undefined') { var admcdfp_sitelang = ''; } if(typeof(demographics) == 'undefined') { var demographics = ''; } var scriptval = 'tn.ae_homepage/homepage_homepage;sz=300x250;tile=2;'+vars+';'+demographics+';'+surroundTag+';ar='+article+';lan='+admcdfp_sitelang+';!c='+category+';ord='+ord+'?'; var noscriptval = 'tn.ae_homepage/homepage_homepage;sz=300x250;tile=2;ord=123456789?'; document.write('<script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20110107072914/http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/'+scriptval+'"><\/script>'); //]]> </script> <noscript> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110107072914/http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/tn.ae_homepage/homepage_homepage;sz=300x250;tile=2;ord=123456789" target="_blank"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20110107072914im_/http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/tn.ae_homepage/homepage_homepage;sz=300x250;tile=2;ord=123456789" border="0" alt=""/> </a></noscript>  </div> <p> <p>Similarly, while I'm no fan of the gym (one of the most tedious ways to spend 45 minutes ever devised by an ancient Greek) I had nevertheless, until four weeks ago, been forcing myself to plug in my most energetic music on the iPod and trudge away on the cross-trainer at least a couple of times a week. The gym is, after all, just one floor up from my flat and it's free. There's really no excuse for my current lethargy. Well, no excuse other than, um, a really interesting documentary on the History Channel. Or a <em>Masterchef </em>omnibus. Or maybe a new episode of <em>Bones. </em></p> <p>So I blame my British cough, and I blame my tiring holiday. It's all the fault of that depressing grey sky in Blighty and the slightly chilly breeze in Abu Dhabi.</p> <p>The temptations of Christmas pudding and Lebanese Mill roast chicken didn't help, and who would voluntarily visit a supermarket during the festive season? Plus, I've just discovered the Discovery Channel, so I'm improving my mind, and I've got a pile of new novels to get through.</p></p> <p> <p>At least it all renders more achievable my New Year's resolution: get off the couch and do something; anything. How's it going, you ask? Meh. 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href="/web/20110107072914/http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/egypts-flawed-elections-burden">Egypt's flawed elections burden</a></li> <li> <a href="/web/20110107072914/http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/hacktivists-erasing-law-and-order-online-for-a-cause">'Hacktivists', erasing law and order online for a cause</a></li> <li> <a href="/web/20110107072914/http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/mobile-phone-user-visits-chaplin-premiere">Mobile phone user visits Chaplin premiere</a></li> <li> <a href="/web/20110107072914/http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/a-husband-should-not-be-needed-for-a-woman-to-receive-care">A husband should not be needed for a woman to receive care</a></li> <li> <a href="/web/20110107072914/http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/life-is-so-unfair-when-youre-a-self-confessed-cat-woman">Life is so unfair when you're a self-confessed cat woman</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="multimedia-teaser"> <h2>Sound & <span>Vision</span></h2> <div class="multimedia-window"> <div class="multimedia-items" style="margin-left: 0px;"> <div class="item"> <div class="content"> <a href="/web/20110107072914/http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/trixerz-crew-dubais-street-dancers"><img width="220" src="/web/20110107072914im_/http://www.thenational.ae/deployedfiles/Assets/Richmedia/Video/20110106 Trixerz Crew 159x106.jpg" alt="Trixerz Crew: Dubai's street dancers"><img height="14" width="14" src="/web/20110107072914im_/http://www.thenational.ae/staticfiles/images/portal/icon-multimedia-video.gif" alt="video" class="icon-multimedia"></a> </div> <div class="metadata" style="display: none;"> <p class="caption"><a href="/web/20110107072914/http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/trixerz-crew-dubais-street-dancers">Trixerz Crew: Dubai's street dancers</a></p> </div> </div> </div> <ul class="next-previous"> <li class="next" style="display: none;"> 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Apathy is its own reward at New Year - The National