6 things I learned from my standing desk
“Your shoulder is messed up. You should see someone about that.”
Well thank you, massage therapist that I only saw once. I didn’t really think that the dude rubbing my shoulder for a brief 30 minutes could really change my outlook on work, positivity, and random shit.
I was wrong.
I got help from a chiropractor and she recommended a standing desk. I went from the sitting lyfe to towering over everyone in the office. And it is glorious.
Here are some things my standing desk taught me.
- Standing is hard. I thought “I have legs, this is fine.” I soon found out that while I did have legs, it was indeed not fine. My back hurt, my feet were killing me, and even my neck was angry at my life choice. Taking baby steps (20 minutes up, 20 minutes down) was the way to go, but I only realized that after day 3. I actually felt awful the first week and just wanted to nap.
2. My workouts got better. I workout. Quite a bit. I really want to be swole AF so I can intimidate all the males at the pool in the summer BUT, my #fitnessgoals fell victim to my gollum-esque posture.
Standing required that I actual use my core to hold myself up (I KNOW RIGHT). My abs are flatter, my legs feel stronger, and I’m able to actually correct my posture easier. Apparently, I wasn’t squatting correctly because of my weak-ass back, so I was loading my quads and not focusing on dat booty. I actually started building solid muscle in my mid-back and not my shoulders and neck. What gives, body? You couldn’t have alerted me to this sooner?
3. I feel more productive. When co-workers come up to you and say that you look like you’re doing something important, that’s when you know that this standing desk is really doing the lord’s work.
After I pushed past the whole “my back hurts and I feel like I’m 110 years old” aspect, I really did start to feel like I was doing work. Writing more. Brainstorming more. Just more. Even when I’m doing nothing, it just feels more legit because I’m standing while doing it.
It’s like all the blood wasn’t getting past the ass that I was sitting on all day.
4. I’m more positive. I’m kinda still a negative person but this whole standing desk has given me a new outlook on the office.
I’m constantly in the power pose, so it feels like ~positive vibes~ are all around me and flooding my brain. There’s that feeling of “I’m a boss” when I stand up.
Or maybe it’s just the essential oils I’ve been cold-diffusing (I’m really comfortable with where I’m at in my “new-age, comfort shoe” stage of life, TBH). Who knows! I’m going to give props to the props I work on all day.
5. Upright humanism bleeds into the rest of my life. There is life before my standing desk and life after my standing desk. Before, it would be hard for me to stand at concerts, bars, museums, anywhere for more than a few hours.
Ever since I decided to use my legs and core to hold up my body, I feel like the most #blessed babe at the music festival. Standing ain’t no thing anymore and I can’t wait to stand in more places: the line for Space Mountain, in front of the donut counter, obstinately in front a rude person at da club, or even at family functions near my escape route.
6. Standing is fun. Yep, that’s what this came down to. Having fun at my desk. My dances moves have grown exponentially as I can be more expressive with the entirety of my body.
Get to standing, ya’ll!
