Gym. Gym, gym, gym. The word itself is a homophone for Jim, like Jim from the Office (best show of all time cough..cough) however one of these things is perfect and hilarious, and the other is a soul-sucking trap which global society created with intentions to kill people's spirits. I'll let you figure this one out on your own. If you couldn't already tell, gym class is something I'm not too fond of, as I'm sure many other people my age can concur. I completely understand the whole reasoning behind having gym class, and I fully agree that kid's physical health is super important, especially during these times. However, why does it have to be so unenjoyable? Honestly I'm all for playing basketball with my friends, or soccer or whatnot (even if I eternally suck at all sports), but gym is a humiliating, horrible class made for annoying overachievers who are only good at playing dodge ball (wow that was really just a dose of honesty right there).
I don't just hate gym for my own opinionated reasons that I will be going into great detail about later, I also hate gym because I'm just bad at it (I know, I know don't hate something just because you're bad at it blah blah blah). Sports are not my forte, however writing is. One hilarious story of how these two facts coincide actually just happened to me last week. For online school, we have to make a weekly ''exercise plan'' where we complete one or more strenuous exercises each day to keep us health during these unprecedented times (the gym teachers words not mine). Now last week, I had what you could call an extreme lack of exercise motivation. Monday I started out strong and I completed my goals for that day and I felt good! But as the week continued, and my school work piled up, stupid online gym wasn't a priority for me. I knew that on Sunday we had to submit a one paragraph response about how our week went following our schedules, and when Sunday came around, for a girl who didn't do any of the exercise, writing a response was exceptionally easy. I completely made up the entire response, but it sounded good, as if I had actually felt ''motivated and mentally happy because of my workouts''. Today I checked my email, and saw that I had a response from the teacher who was running online grade 8 gym. He told me that he loved my response and that he thought I was a great writer! I had to laugh! I showed my mom, and she told me that I should write about this in my blog, how being a good writer got me an A in gym! It truly brings a new light to the quote, ''Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses.''
Now coming back to my 700-page essay about why I hate gym. Don't even get me started on having to change for gym. Again, I totally understand the reasoning behind having to change for gym. People sweat and smell. Coming from a middle school full of gross kids, I would know. However if the gym curriculum sucks, which it does, and I am in no way getting any physical activity or sweating, why should I change? You're telling me I have to change out of my super cute outfit and into leggings and a tee shirt so that I can throw maybe five rainbow colored foam balls at other kids and stand around for an hour? Is that what you're saying? When gym class actually makes me sweat, and helps me become engaged in physical activity, then I will begin to change regularly for gym class.
Also it is not only the fact that I have a very opinionated stance on changing for gym, it is that in the mornings while I'm rushing out the door and have 1000 things on my mind, I tend to forget to bring gym clothes to school. I like to think of it this way: I'm organized when it comes to school, handing in my assignments, and making it to class on time, so what does it matter if I'm unorganized when it comes to gym (especially when I'm still in middle school and it doesn't have a drastic effect on my average like it would in high school). However my gym teacher doesn't fully agree with that philosophy and likes to remind me that I should keep a change of clothes in my locker! Makes logical sense, right? NO. It does not! Why would a person spend $100 on Lululemon leggings for them to sit in your locker 5 days a week? It doesn't make sense! Now this may provoke the particular rebuttal of, ''Anneke, why don't you buy a regular pair of leggings that are less expensive and keep those in your locker?'' This is a good point, however this causes the complication of me having to find a cheap pair of leggings that I like and that are comfortable and believe it or not, that task is not as easy as it sounds! I am now done complaining about my first-world legging problems, but that does not change the fact that I hate gym. Next year, when I'm in high school, I will try to make the best of my high school gym experience and maybe then me and gym can have a fresh start. However until then, I'm still technically in grade 8. Therefore, I can write all of the angry gym class rants that I want! Thank you for listening to me and probably giving yourself a headache.
Your authoress,
Anneke C. Goodwin
(honestly me and my friends in gym class just being done with life)