The biggest difference in my life when looking at the Five to Thrive is working out consistently. Growing up people told me I didn’t need to work out because I was skinny, so for the longest time, I truly believed that if you weren’t overweight, you didn’t go to the gym. Aye yie yie! What a lie!!! Well when I eventually figured out this wasn’t true, I joined a gym. Again friends AND family were asking me, “why are you going to the gym?” or “you don’t think you’re skinny enough already?” or “you don’t need to go to the gym,” or “what a waste of money!” Friends, going to the gym, or working out isn’t all about weight! It’s about being healthy: getting your heart rate up, helping you have more energy during the day, having less stress and getting those good endorphins going through your system. I’d been surrounded by inactive people for so long (and genetics have been nice to many of my family members as far as high metabolism goes) so I was never properly educated on all the benefits your body gets from being active.
Building myself up to start something on a certain date has never worked well for me when it comes to personal goals. It’s just too easy to say, ‘I’ll start next week,’ and I got real tired of that. One morning I woke up and thought, ‘Screw it, I’m doing this right now.’ So, for the last seven months taking a class at the gym or working out at home has consistently been a four to five time a week thing. It started out just making sure to move for 30 minutes every day, which sounds easy peasy because it’s not a lot of time, but wo-man oh man, if you’re not used to it, the day gets away from you quick and then the next thing you know, Old Jed’s a Millionaire! Just kidding, next thing you know it’s time for bed and you’re telling yourself you’ll get to it tomorrow and that five days a week is still way better than what you used to do. But then five days turns into four, turns into three,….well, you see my point.
So for the Last 90 Days of 2019, I’m making sure it becomes an EVERY DAY habit, so that by January 1, it’ll be a lifestyle. I refuse to be one of those people that is only seen in the gym the first six weeks of every year because by then the shine has worn off from my New Year’s resolution. This is my time to really focus and be surrounded by a community of people from around the globe, all striving for the same things.
For me I’ve got to get it in first thing. Sometimes even before my coffee. I look at my work out calendar the night before and put the clothes I need next to the toothbrush holder on my bathroom counter. That way it’s super automatic when I’m still sleepy eye’d. There’s a yoga instructor I love at my gym, so I go to her class twice a week. I’m also one of those weird people who doesn’t mind running on a treadmill, even for long distance. For the days I don’t drive over to they gym, I’ve got a series of strength/weight exercises I can do from home, along with some Pilates videos I really enjoy. I took a Pilates class in college, so I already had the basics down, making the faster paced videos easier to understand and follow. On the days I’m a little sore from an extra hard strength workout, I take the dogs for a walk so I’m still getting those steps in! Even after only short amount of time, I feel more rested, I definitely have more energy, and I’m genuinely in a better mood.
The White Hat Journal 