Burning with Inspiration

I ate an enormous lunch. Literally thousands of calories. And then jelly beans, too. I picked my oldest up from school and brought her home. It was raining. Not a nice day.

And I was over-caffeinated, buzzing but not in a good way. I knew myself, that I wouldn't accomplish much of anything if I sat down to write so I went to the gym. I brought my copy of Annie Dillard's The Writer's Life. I hopped on an elliptical machine and got going.

I stayed there for two hours. I read the whole book. By the end of my workout, my legs were burning. And I was burning. With inspiration.

There is indeed something worth noting here. That my mind is at its most malleable and free when I am physically active. When I am exercising, I feel like myself, I feel alive, and ideas alight. I jot them down in my phone.

But. There is a but. There is always a but. But I am not sure how normal (hate that word) or healthy it is to do cardio for two hours. Particularly when it is conspicuously done in response to overeating.

I came home. And later that night, I ordered more than a dozen books on writing. Some well-known and well-revered. Some more obscure, self-helpy. Again, is this normal, healthy? This impulsive binge on books?

What is normal anyway? What is healthy? Do these questions really have answers?