Today we're honored to have another guest post from my friend and author Amanda Kolman. Some of you may not relate to this, but I know SOOOO many people who will...Enjoy!
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It's time I confessed what I have known in my heart forever and ever. I don't like to work out. I really don't. Not even a little. Oh, how I wish I was one of those people who loved to run! How I wish I was one of you lovely things who couldn't wait to jump out of bed and head to the gym in the morning. Instead, this is me:
In Winter: It is WAY too cold to get out and go to the gym.
In Summer: It is WAY too hot to get out and go to the gym.
In Spring and Fall: It is WAY too beautifulto be spending time inside the gym.
And so, I often go cart wheeling off the wagon for the most minor reasons. Actually, I don't cartwheel. I never learned that particular skill because well...there was never a convenient time. But, I hop off the wagon and start to have conversations with myself about why I don't need to go anymore.
Reason #1. The shape of my body hasn't really changed much in the last few years. I think what I've got is what it's gonna be. So, am I going in order to change it somehow? Because that is probably futile.
Reason #2. I have more important things to do. Like...a lot of other things that could use attention.
Reason #3. I don't want to. I am tired of hurting all the time. I deserve a good, long break.
Honestly, all of these reasons that I use to convince myself I don't need to go are actually true. And there are plenty more where those came from. This is my reality, folks. There is nothing here to commend me to the fitness hall of fame but this is the cold, hard truth. Most of the time, I just plain don't want to do it and I am skilled at finding some way to get out of it.
Eventually though, I am always compelled to go back (usually sooner rather than later because that "first day back after too long of doing nothing" kind of sore muscles is a highly motivating kind of pain.) There is something that almost always snaps me out of my funk and moves me forward, back into the gym. It is simply this: There is more I want to do in this life. More I'd like to experience. More I'd like to contribute. More I'd like to see and learn. And I want a body, inasmuch as it is up to me, that can get me where I need to go. I don't want to be held back from living life by a body that is limited because I stayed still and it decided it didn't need to function anymore.
I'm grateful that I start to feel a loss when I don't exercise. I think it's my heart's way of saying, "We've got stuff planned that you're gonna need some cardio skills for. Let's go!"
I will probably never be that girl who loves to exercise. What I am doing now in CrossFit is the closest I have ever come to enjoying exercise and, let's face it, that is probably because it's social. But, I can preach to myself what I say to my kids all the time. We don't always love everything we do. But we do it because it's necessary or right or important.
Because of that, on most days, this is me:
8:45 am: Come on, girl...there 's a barbell with your name on it at the gym. *big sigh* Alright. Let's go.
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Thanks again to Amanda Kolman for this wonderfully honest and encouraging post! While she fails to mention it here, she owns a Bounding Blue rope with Caution Tape Yellow handles...If you don't like to work out, you might as well like your jump rope, right?
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