30 Days to a Better Us - Day 4
Exercise
This should be an easy one, but for many of you, this may be a deal-breaker in our relationship. Listen I get it. Don’t nobody WANT to get up at 5:00am and sweat (or write), but we do it because of the benefit it brings to our life over all. I am certainly not telling you to get up at 5:00am (though when I’m finished with this challenge, I may write a blog called “what I learned from waking up at 5am for 30 days.” I am, however, suggesting once again, that doing the thing most people don’t want to do brings you results that most people don’t get to have.
I recently spent a few months taking care of my aging father in Illinois. Bless his heart, he is dealing with so many health issues: diabetes, neck/back pain, congestive heart failure and unfortunate side effects from each of those things. If we are being honest here, I didn’t just feel bad for him...I felt scared for me! I don’t want any of those things, I don’t want to take 33 meds a day and I don’t want to look down and wonder where my body went. Before you judge me, think for a second. We have all looked at that someone (whether in our head or out loud) and said, “I just don’t ever want to be like that.” Good, bad or ugly, we all do it...but are we doing something ABOUT IT?
Webster defines the word exercise as: bodily or mental exertion, especially for the sake of training or improvement of health or putting into action, use, operation, or effect. Yes girl! That is exactly what we are talking about today - training for the sake of improving our health and/or putting our bodies into full effect! Just imagine if your body working at its highest capacity. Shut up...we could do anything! Just imagine how sexy you would feel - that is a whole ‘nother conversation.
I could spend pages and pages on the science and health benefits of exercise, but that would be boring and frankly not my job. The interweb is an amazing place for us to immerse ourselves in all we ever wanted to know about health & fitness. BUT I don’t think it’s our lack of knowledge that keeps us from moving our bodies, is it ladies? Let’s fill in the blank together. I don’t exercise because _______________.
Now, can we real talk here? Whatever you filled that blank with is the only thing standing between you and your health goals...kill it! Honestly, we have to knock down our own excuses, get over ourselves and do the hard stuff to get the good stuff. Before you get mad at me for not understanding your specific situation, remember that there are people out there with no limbs winning at Olympic events. There are broke housewives at home using their children and groceries as free weights. There are people who exercise while sitting at their desk at work...and there are people who walk for hours up mountains just to get to work. Let’s start to be like those people.
Listen, I’ve been a big girl all my life. Can’t really ever remember being smaller than a size 14 actually, so I assure you I am NOT thinking we all need to be working towards skinny...but we sure as heck can be working towards something. Honest engine? I have a traumatizing aversion to jumping jacks. I had no idea it was so bad, until recently my trainer (free benefit at my gym, so she has a personal trainer is no excuse either) asked me to give him 10 jumping jacks and I seriously entered into a tearful panic attack. Determined to conquer what seemed like an irrational fear, I pushed through it...with silent tears streaming down my face. Might sound stupid to you, but during that set I realized that no matter how much weight I have lost or how good I am feeling, when I do a jumping jack...my whole front jumps up and down and I feel like everyone is watching and I am transported immediately to being the fat kid on the playground.
I love that little girl on the playground so much, that I want her adult self to also have her best shot and if that means jumping jacks, so be it. In my following session with the trainer guy, I turned to face the wall...and gave him twenty! No more will that thought be what stands between me and the strength I need to take this encouragement show on the road, or ride rides with my kids, or hike that trail or whatever thing it is that requires our body to be strong and mobile.
So our first assignment today is to just MOVE. Do something: walk a little, vacuum, lift a can of soup while sitting in your chair, even better...pump up your favorite jam and just dance girl...then snap a selfie and post it #SummerReboot...I dare ya :)