Let’s talk about your relationship with exercise.
Do you love it? Hate it? Tolerate it?
Do you feel married to it? Does it remind you of an exciting new romance?
Exercise is one of the only habits that we are expected to be married to right from the start.
If you were to take up a new hobby like painting or playing a guitar very few people would expect you to be committed to doing it every day for an hour.
So, why is exercise promoted this way?
And more importantly, why do we put that kind of expectation on ourselves?
Here is my philosophy about how you should approach your relationship with exercise:
If you are new to exercise (or newly returning) then please don’t think you have to be married to it from day one.
You don’t even have to be dating.
You don’t have to practice exercise monogamy either.
Go ahead and date!
When you first start out I want you to think of exercise as an exciting new lover.
It should be fun, spontaneous, fulfilling, exciting, and rewarding.
You should look forward to it.
If you don’t, it may be because you’ve chosen the wrong “partner” and/or you are attempting to be “dating” or “married” too soon.
It’s okay to ease into this relationship.
It SHOULD be fun!!
If it’s not, you are doing something wrong.
How can you make it exciting?
Start with what is appealing to you. Don’t start with what some exercise guru says is the best or most effective at fat loss or something like that.
Is there a physical activity that when you think about doing it, you think, “hmmmmm…..that sounds appealing”.
Anything else, please hold off.
You have the rest of your life to become someone who “works out” every day. (or maybe you’ll never do that and that’s probably okay)
Now contrast that with the typical approach promoted on Instagram or at many gyms.
They want you to be married to your workout from day one!
No way!
Look, take it from someone that is married to exercise, there is no rush to get there.
Some days I love it, some days I hate it, some days I tolerate it. But I am still forever committed.
Sounds just like a marriage right?
Allow yourself to go through a nice, exciting, fun romance with exercise. And it’s okay to have variety.
Maybe you try hiking. Or maybe you check out gardening. Or swimming. Or picking up some weights. Or taking a fun dance class or a kickboxing group.
Try out new things. Enjoy.
Build it up.
Maybe after some time you can start dating more seriously.
But don’t expect that right away.
And eventually you’ll probably get married to exercise.
That’s a nice place to be because not only do you have 100% confidence that you’ll be together forever, you also start to crave it when you don’t work out.
But for now, please, allow yourself the luxury of enjoying the romance.
If you do that, you won’t give up and you will WANT MORE!
Sometimes the process of losing weight and gaining health can seem so confusing and/or overwhelming. How do you know where to start? How do you know what diet is right for you? How do you keep up the motivation?
I offer free clarity calls where we will discuss your goals and your challenges so we can connect the dots and give you clarity on the next best steps for you.
