Motivation

I have to admit, I am fascinated with all things surrounding fitness and exercise lately.  Today, I have been thinking about motivation - and how a person goes about having the motivation, specifically when it comes to exercising.   What makes one person decide it's too much effort to spend even 15 minutes a day walking or moving, and another person will exercise for several hours a day.  What is it that drives a person to move their body and want to improve their health while another person doesn't?

We all have excuses that could stop us from exercising, that sap our motivation to exercise. I will focus on just one of those excuses today.

No time.

Work, caring for children, maybe caring for elderly parents, going to school.  There are always so many things going on in our lives, it's easy to let exercise and tracking food go by the wayside.

But, if there's one thing I've learned and I repeat to anyone who talks to me and complains about the lack of time, I say - you don't have time NOT to exercise.

I have four children - yes, 4!  I home school them, my husband was traveling a lot and still works so he's not always around, I have a house to care for and my day is full, but I can honestly say that I have more productive time in my day now that I've been exercising than I ever did before.  Why?  Because I don't tire as easily.  I can go up and down the stairs without getting tired.  Doing laundry, cleaning the house, taking care of day to day chores isn't so exhausting anymore.  It's actually enjoyable.

I can guarantee that you'll spend a lot more time doing basic tasks when your body tires easily.  If you can't easily bend down to pick something off the floor, inevitably you're going to say to yourself, "I'll just leave it there and get it later."  If you're tired, you're not motivated to do the things that you know need to get done.  Guess what? That time you spend exercising means you're giving yourself a gift of extra PRODUCTIVE time later in the day.

It's true.  I have learned that one myself.  It still amazes me how easily I can pick things up, go upstairs to put something away, how much I WANT to move my body, because it isn't hard anymore.  It's actually fun.

It didn't start out that way though.  At first, it is horribly hard.   All I could think is, "Why am I doing this to myself?"  And, honestly, some days I still feel that way.  But then I remember the reasons I want to move. I want to play with my children, to be able to run with them and keep up with them.  I want my house to be tidier so we are all less stressed in the evening.  I want to not wake up with aches and pains, and I want to be able to grow old and still maintain as active a life as I can.

Make a list.  What will motivate you to move?  Write down all the things you really want.  Do you want to be able to walk without tiring?  Do you want to be able to fit into an airplane seat? (That was my goal at one point in my life!)  Do you want to feel less aches and pains when you wake up?  Do you want to run a 5K someday?  Maybe there's something you always wanted to do - like hike the Appalachian Trail.  Write it down.  Make your goals and then....

GET MOVING!