Sometimes a pairing is just not meant to be

Unfortunately, there are relationships that just cannot work out no matter how badly each person wants them to. Signs from the universe collide and repeatedly remind you: it is just not meant to be.

bummer.

(source)

I am currently dealing with one of those relationships. Before you think I'm getting all serious and melo-dramatic, I should probably clarify that I am referring to my relationship with my yoga mat.{that's normal, right?}

Story goes like this: Girl meets yoga mat. Yoga mat is pink, so girl likes yoga mat. Yoga mat is cheap, so girl commits to yoga mat without much soul-searching or product comparison. Girl and yoga mat go home together and enjoy yoga podcasts, sweaty, post-run sweat sessions, and maybe one or two instances of abs exercises.

When girl moves to New York, yoga mat joins her - you could say things got more serious at this point. Shortly thereafter, however, girl starts a side relationship with her gym and starts using their yoga mats, discovering that...she likes them much more. While yoga mat excels in bright pink-ness, it falls short in categories of: traction, cushioning and not-getting-dirty-constantly.

Fast forward to this past week, when I (girl) began my free week at YogaWorks, which is a byo-mat establishment. Day two, I leave my yoga mat at the studio. Doh! Two days later, I return to retrieve it. I don't have time to attend a class and attend a J Crew instead. Our reunion was brief as I left yoga mat in the dressing room. Twenty minutes later, on my way to dinner with an old friend from high school, I shyly return to J Crew and once again am reunited with yoga mat.

I meet my friend at the midway point between our homes: Columbia University (yes, she lives very far away from me) and go out to dinner at a restaurant near the undergraduate campus. As I get on the subway at 9:30 pm at 110th street, it hits me - something is missing. Yes, that's right - Thai Market received a donation of one hot pink yoga mat last night.

I debate going back to the restaurant straight away, but I know I would have to reload my metro card and tack on another 15-20 minutes to an already long ride home. I debate going back to the restaurant in the coming days, but given my schedule and the restaurant's severe lack of proximity to my apartment, forego that possibility.

In all honesty, yoga mat and I just are not destined to be together. It will take time to get over this break-up, but I already feel stronger and more free acknowledging that it is time to move on.

Tomorrow, I will cough up the $2 to rent a yoga mat for class, and I will begin the search for a new mat that really serves all of my needs.

...any recommendations?