Good Posture

Once upon a time, I had good posture - maybe it was because I took ballet and was trained from a young and supple age to maintain my good standing, or maybe it was because there just wasn't much of me that could be pulled down by gravity. A short stub can typically stand more firmly and straightly (is that a word?) than can a taller.. stub.

Since whatever day it was that I started to slouch, I've become worse and worse in terms of posture. When I took ballet for a brief semester last year, it improved just slightly (I even had some very supportive people commenting on how office-lady I looked. Actually, I don't know what that means..uhh) but soon after the next semester began, I reverted back to my old, hunched-over ways.

Not too long ago, I saw an example of terrible posture while on my way to work. From one angle she looked normal, but from another she looked as if she had aged 30 years. Strange, and actually quite disturbing. But it motivated me to do better! So I looked through all those "how to's" (like the wonderful wiki-how) on how to improve posture, and found typical things like 'strengthen your muscles across the back and shoulders', and 'do stretches' (and some not as typical things, like 'be a penguin'), but today, I came upon a new realization and perhaps a new method of inducing good posture!

Walk in heels.

I found that when I walk in heels, I have good posture! Mostly because if that were not the case, I would probably break my foot or twist an ankle or injure myself stupidly in some other way on account of imbalance and poor planning (cobblestone + heels = bad. I write really long sentences :( ). I also found that because I am so grateful to sit after each walk, I am actually more inclined to sit up straight and not slouch. Typically, I'd expect this relief to manifest itself in the form of "ahhhh" and *slouch*, but interestingly enough, perhaps the dopamine system works in this case to not "let oneself go" as a reward, but rather to "strive for better" as an incentive for more future reward. So in conclusion, another way to induce better posture is to walk in heels. Unfortunately that only works (or is socially acceptable) for half of the human population.

Well, that was all a bit convoluted, and perhaps it's all just my justification for buying a new pair of shoes. :/ My jacket is fuzzing and I fell asleep at the bus stop today. And I think I'm having an allergic reaction to my hairtie.

End.