Mission: Playtime is all about fun. It’s about injecting joy back into everyday life. About seeing the joy in everyday life. I’m building a habit of having and seeing fun.

“Fun” and “Joy” are not words I associated with the word “Gym”, but I do now, so there we go. I have been an avid gym goer for about a month now. In fact so far I’ve spent 16.5 hours in the gym, which is probably more time than the rest of my life put together.

Ok, so when it’s busy it smells funny (especially if a spin class is in progress…). And the personal trainers block up the hallways. And there’s always someone hogging the machine you want to use. I even got kicked off a machine the other day because someone had to finish their final set.

But when you get a good session… It’s hard to describe. Things that I was worried or annoyed about walking into the gym, seem smaller, less significant, laughable. I feel stronger in any number of different ways. Just by going I feel like I’ve achieved something.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have an inspirational quote as my phone screen, or on my water bottle, or the back of my t-shirt: “Sweat is Magic”, “I will run harder than my mascara”, “Hustle for that Muscle”. I’m not a hardcore gym goer. Just trying to be a regular gym goer. Sometimes I push myself hard. Sometimes I’m just pleased that I turned up.

One of my Missions is to do yoga every day for a month. To me, it’s interesting that I can’t seem to find the time (classic rubbish excuse), or more likely the motivation, to do a 10 minute yoga session in my own home, but walking in the freezing Scottish winter to the gym, to workout for half an hour doesn’t seem that tough anymore.

A lot of this is down to having a wonderful gym buddy. Gymming with Simmy has been a joy. It makes me feel good that we’re doing it together. Stronger. It’s part of our regular life. Not something that we have to make time for.

So, yes, I enjoy the gym. Words I never thought I’d say.