I had lots of excuses I could have used to skip my workout this morning.
My folks are in town and our guest-suite encompasses my usual workout area. We have a full schedule with more family visits planned. I have stayed up past my usual bedtime most of this week, and there is work to get done before I can fully relax and enjoy the weekend.
But I was committed and I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and did a 30 minute meditation before getting up at 4 to get my hour-and-a-half workout underway by 4:30 a.m.
My guess is that many of you think that is just plain crazy.
So I asked myself, “Why am I so committed to getting my workout in?”
There are definitely things that contribute—I’ve set a physical and time-focused goal that I want to meet, I want to be an authentic example of striving for optimal wellness for all you fabulous readers and my clients, and in all honesty, I want to maintain and improve how I look.
But the true reason that makes my eyes flutter open at 3:30 a.m. without the aid of an alarm clock and gets my bum out of a very warm and appealing bed is the anabolic physical energy I get from moving my body, which impacts every single area of my life.
Feeling physically well has not been something I’ve been able to take for granted since I was about 10 or 11 years old. I was a sickly and sensitive kid that suffered from food allergies, and later chronic back problems and migraines.
Truly this was a gift in disguise as it forced me beginning in my early 20s to begin learning to pay attention to my body and the role and responsibility that I had in creating wellness. In the quest to feel better, I learned about nutrition and exercise, but the challenge was not in learning what to do, it was in the doing.
Typically, out of sheer willpower and often desperation, I would make what felt like austere changes long enough to start feeling better—and then I would slip back into the old, more comfortable patterns, only to start the cycle all over again.
The most obvious symptom of this was that my weight regularly vacillated 20 to 40 pounds.
Why wasn’t I able to make the changes stick?
Because in order to create the physical energy that enables me to do and be the best possible version of me, I had to shift my emotional energy—my thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about Who I was, what I was capable of, and what I deserved. I had to tap into my spiritual energy—my sense of purpose and the meaning of my life.
But ironically, I also needed the physical energy to effectively tap into the emotional and spiritual energy. While I had worked on the different elements separately, it wasn’t until I brought them all together that I began to see true changes in my body, mind, and spirit.
For me, it is my physical energy that has the greatest impact on what I can accomplish in my day, how I show up in the world, my ability to respond instead of react, to see the big picture and let go of the outcome, to have absolute faith and confidence that everything is always working out for me—and you.
When my body gets out of balance and my physical energy slips, so does everything else. Physical energy truly is the foundation of my life. My commitment to healthy eating, moving my body, and rest impacts everything.
What can you do to look at the affect physical energy has on your life? What is one small change that you could make that would boost how you physically feel? How does feeling better impact your ability to be the best possible version of you?
Together we can do it!
I’ve been lucky to have led an active life. Things change though. The physical exercise that I could do in my 20’s, 30’s 40’s and even part of my 50’s is different. My back will no longer take the pounding of impact exercise. Say goodbye to tennis, running and aerobics class. Still, I walk at brisk clip, husband and dog at my side, enough to break a sweat and feel good afterward. I swim in the summers. That’s a good workout. But here is my secret new thing and I am almost a little shy to say. At 60, I am once again am ice skating! Now I can’t do the little jumps and turns I did as a young woman, but I love getting on the ice and gliding around the rink. It’s good cardio and great for the legs and the yaya. I hope I exercise until the very end and I hope I can skate that long too. It’s just heaven. . .
Woo hoo! I love that you are skating! Not only fabulous exercise, but huge fun, which boosts your mental health, too. I hope you will release that shyness and embrace this awesome physical activity. Congratulations on your awesome commitment to exercise.
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