Que la rutina no te mate (Parte 2) - Don’t let the routine kill you (Part 2)

Julia llevaba días preocupada por Adele. Nunca la había visto tan triste.

—Pero si lo tienes todo, Adele. Un trabajo, un marido, dos hijas... No entiendo. ¿Qué te pasa? ¿Por qué estás tan triste?

—Ya, tía, tienes razón. No me debería quejar. Pero desde que soy madre no tengo tiempo para mí. Además, Luis siempre está de viaje, aunque, sinceramente, ya hasta me da igual que no esté en casa. Todos mis días son iguales: trabajar, comer en el mismo bar y luego niñas, niñas y niñas. No es que no las quiera, me encanta estar con ellas. Pero es que estoy en modo zombi.

—Ya... Bueno, a ver, yo no tengo hijos y la verdad es que a veces también voy en modo automático. Te puedo entender.

—¿Te acuerdas de aquel anuncio de seguros Verti donde estaban todos como dormidos y de repente despertaban a la vida? "La gente es más despierta, hay gente más abierta..." —canta Adele al otro lado del teléfono—. Creo que necesito eso. Despertar.

Cuatro meses después, suena el despertador de Adele.

Se levanta sin miedo. Hace tanto que no le da un mareo que ya ni siquiera hace los ejercicios de cuello antes de salir de la cama.

Va ágil al cuarto de las niñas.

—Venga, chicas, arriba.

Se dirige al cuarto de baño, no sin antes encender el altavoz y poner Spotify. Suena Barry B. Las niñas se visten, cantan y saltan.

Adele se maquilla. Se pone el jersey amarillo nuevo que saca del paquete de Zara que llegó ayer a casa. Le quita la etiqueta y va a desayunar.

Antes de lavarse los dientes y salir de casa, saca el táper de la nevera. Garbanzos al curry con arroz blanco. Botellín de agua. Y, al salir de casa, ya no lleva solo las mochilas de sus hijas colgadas del brazo, también carga la suya. La bolsa negra del gimnasio.

Solo pensar que después del trabajo irá al gimnasio la pone feliz. Una hora que ha conseguido acordar con su suegra para poder hacer deporte durante el día.

El cole, el trabajo... Todo va bien.

Adele se siente genial. Ha adelgazado unos tres kilos. Cuando va a por las niñas, su sonrisa se ve a kilómetros. Parece una mujer diferente. Lleva a las niñas a la piscina y, ahora en vez de observarlas y charlar con las madres, se pide una coca cola zero y busca recetas healthy en su cuenta nueva de Instagram. Se muere por llegar al súper y ver si hoy podrá conseguir todos esos ingredientes raros que aparecen en un reel.

Termina el día y, después de dormir a las niñas, vuelve a perderse un rato en Instagram. Coge ideas de libros, de ejercicios para el gimnasio y de batch cooking.

Se desmaquilla lentamente, observando con cariño sus arrugas, su piel blanca. Se mira las piernas al ponerse el pijama. Están depiladas. Qué gusto, piensa.

Decide sacar del armario el look para mañana. No el del trabajo; el de deporte. Se echa crema en las piernas. Se tumba en la cama. Coge el móvil y le escribe a Luis:

Luis, ¿qué tal? Por aquí todo bien. Tu madre me ha dado recuerdos. Me voy a la cama ya, que estoy rota. Buenas noches.

Lee un capítulo de Los siete maridos de Evelyn Hugo. Y justo después de poner la alarma, abre Instagram otra vez.

Manu ha empezado a seguirla.

Adele sonríe.

Acepta su solicitud. Entra en su perfil. Le da a seguir.

Manu acepta tan rápido que, en menos de dos segundos, Adele ya puede ver todas sus fotos y reels en la pantalla.

Se pasa una hora cotilleando, haciendo zoom en las fotos para verle bien la cara.

¿Y quién es Manuel?, os preguntaréis.

Manuel es su entrenador de CrossFit.

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ENGLISH

Julia had been worried about Adele for days. She had never seen her this sad.

-- But you have everything, Adele. A job, a husband, two daughters... I don't get it. What's wrong? Why are you so unhappy?

-- I know, girl, you're right. I shouldn't complain. But ever since I became a mother, I have no time for myself. And Luis is always away on business. Honestly, I've reached the point where I don't even care whether he's home or not. Every day is exactly the same: work, lunch at the same café, and then kids, kids, and more kids. It's not that I don't love them—I do. I love being with them. But I feel like a zombie.

-- Yeah... Well, I don't have children, but honestly, sometimes I go through life on autopilot too. I can understand that.

-- Do you remember that Verti insurance commercial where everyone looked half asleep and then suddenly woke up to life? ‘People are more awake, people are more open...’ Adele sings on the other end of the phone. I think I need that. To wake up.

Four months later, Adele's alarm clock goes off.

She gets out of bed without fear. It has been so long since her last dizzy spell that she no longer does her neck exercises before getting up.

She heads briskly to the girls' bedroom.

-- Come on, girls. Time to get up.

She walks to the bathroom, stopping only to switch on the speaker and put Spotify on. Barry B starts playing. The girls get dressed, singing and jumping around.

Adele puts on her makeup. She slips into the new yellow sweater she pulls from the Zara package that arrived yesterday. She removes the tag and heads to breakfast.

Before brushing her teeth and leaving the house, she takes a food container out of the fridge. Curried chickpeas with white rice. A bottle of water. And when she walks out the door, she is no longer carrying only her daughters' backpacks hanging from her arm. She carries her own as well.

The black gym bag.

Just thinking about going to the gym after work makes her happy. One hour she managed to arrange with her mother-in-law so she could exercise during the day.

School, work... everything is going well.

Adele feels great. She's lost about three kilos. When she goes to pick up the girls, her smile can be seen from miles away. She looks like a different woman. She takes the girls to swimming lessons and, instead of watching them and chatting with the other mothers, she orders a Coke Zero and scrolls through healthy recipes on her new Instagram account. She can't wait to get to the supermarket and see whether she'll be able to find all those strange ingredients featured in a reel.

The day comes to an end and, after putting the girls to bed, she once again loses herself in Instagram for a while. She gathers ideas for books, gym workouts, and batch cooking.

She removes her makeup slowly, looking fondly at her wrinkles and her pale skin. As she changes into her pajamas, she glances down at her legs. They're freshly shaved. What a nice feeling, she thinks.

She decides to lay out tomorrow's outfit. Not the work one—the gym one. She rubs lotion into her legs. Then she lies down in bed. She picks up her phone and sends Luis a message:

Hey Luis, how are you? Everything's fine over here. Your mum sends her regards. I'm heading to bed now—I'm exhausted. Good night.

She reads a chapter of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Then, just after setting her alarm, she opens Instagram again.

Manu has started following her.

Adele smiles.

She accepts his request. Opens his profile. Follows him back.

Manu accepts so quickly that, in less than two seconds, Adele can already see all his photos and reels on her screen.

She spends an hour snooping through his profile, zooming in on pictures to get a better look at his face.

And who is Manuel, you may be wondering?

Manuel is her CrossFit coach.

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