Exercise: Do what you enjoy while staying healthy.
My last day of summer.
Before getting into more technical info I thought I would post quick reflection how much we take health for granted. Last Sunday was a day of movement for me.
In the morning I was able to do a 10 km run with minimal training in 50:25 in scorching heat. Now I know the people who actually run are probably laughing at that time, but it shouldn't be lost on everyone how we take our ability to move for granted. All too often it is the simple things in life that we don't even think about that cause us to be humbled the most when we lose those abilities.
Too often we find ourselves looking to materialism to find our happiness and forget that it is our choice to be happy.
Now don't get me wrong when I was trying to keep going around the 7 km mark, sweating buckets enough to completely change the colour of my shirt, I wasn't exactly joyful. But when I did cross the finish line there was a sense of accomplishment that was there if I hadn't tried to challenge myself.
Too often we feel that exercise has to be punishment. Atoning for our late night dietary misadventures when we are having a night on the town. If you are not getting something out of it and are miserable the whole time that you are doing it you will obviously not stick with your exercise regime no matter how much you want to fit into those older pairs of jeans.
The key is to find something you enjoy. What I enjoy about running is that it gets me out of the house into fresh air. The competitive aspects of a race and seeing how you are doing year after year also really appeal to me.
I also managed to play five games of beach volleyball and went swimming in a lake for an hour while I was trying to take full advantage of one of the last warm days of 2017 for my area. While I was swimming I was thinking about how thankful I am to be able to live in a safe environment; where I choose to be physically active for leisure rather then necessity; and having a group of friends that I enjoy spending time with.
Practicing gratitude for the simple things that you can do goes a long way into increasing your life satisfaction.
What are some activities that you enjoy? Please comment below.
Yours in health,
Doc