(not) Relaxing in the Sauna
2025-10-07
I got thrown off a bit this morning after having a good conversation with an acquaintance/reader (hey salty), but after having the conversation and going to the gym, I feel like I had a bunch of things I was thinking about, but need to get into my rhythm of curating those thoughts in my head and having them enter my stream of consciousness as I write.
I constantly find myself disappointed in American people these days, particularly those here in my small conservative-leaning suburb (don't worry, I'm not going to harp on conservatives). When I go to the gym, I do my workout and after the workout, I treat myself to the spa area which has a hot tub, sauna, and cold shower. The amenities are excellent for the price (around $30 per month), but this cheap price also brings a large number of people. I've been a regular at the gym for months now and I see new faces literally every time I go. There must be thousands of people paying for memberships. Now, crowding wouldn't be an excessive problem if people actually knew how the fuck to behave themselves.
Like I was saying, I like to enjoy the spa area after my workouts. But here's the thing: most people at this gym are grossly unaware of the fact that it is a place to relax. I go into the sauna and people are in there with their workout clothes and many of them are listening to music or on their phones. Some of them are stupid enough to treat the sauna as a nice little additional 'challenge' to their workout and do calisthenics IN THE FUCKING SAUNA and they take up the whole room doing it and ruining the vibe for everyone. I go into the sauna as a futile attempt to relax, but am constantly finding myself irritated at the distractions fueled by needless American entitlement.
So yeah, I try to relax after my workouts, but American culture shouts at my face and tells me that there's never a moment to relax because there's always time to grind. It pisses me the fuck off. People here are so concerned nowadays with optimization and making every facet of life into some kind of demonstration or competition. I seriously wish that it weren't like this here, but for better or worse it's home and all I know.
It's currently the afternoon as of writing this post, and the afternoons always put me in an anxious slump for some reason. Afternoons are a slump time for almost everyone, but for me I also get an added dose of anxiety. Lovely. But I can take the edge off with a prescription hydroxizyne if needed. I also get tired in the afternoons too. Anxiety and exhaustion are a horrible combo, truly. But coffee can fix that, at least.
Still though, today is another day and if I'm lucky, I'll get to have another one tomorrow.