Carpe Diem
You’ve come to a literal fork in the road.
It’s the age-old question— but where do you go now? Right now,
your fate is in your own hands. “If you had one shot, and one opportunity,”
would you take it? (Thanks, Eminem)
I think my 13 year-old self just cringed a little.
But really, on a more serious note, the fate of your life is in your
hands at every moment of every day. With every choice that you make, you have the
ability to be who you want to be in every moment. Sure, this is definitely
relatable to that part of your day in which you could be working out, but it
goes deeper than that, too. For just a moment, I want to touch on the idea of
being mindful. The process of being present in your day-to-day life, being
present so that you can make conscious decisions about which fork you’re going
to take when life gives you more than one choice.
There’s a great website, that I use personally, called Headspace – “Meditation made simple”. It’s
a fantastic way to train your brain in ways that keep you a little more
grounded. They even have a 10 day free trial.
Ok, back to the meat-and-potatoes.
Choice. Remain constant, make no changes, take no chances.
Or, seize the day, do something different, exercise your mind, your soul, and
your body.
There’s that saying, “An object in motion stays in motion,”
which I personally always thought was silly, but it’s so true.
The first days are always the hardest, but once you get
started your body craves the continuation of movement. It becomes easier, those
exercises that used to make you winded are now becoming easier.
Go for a walk—it can be that easy. Bump your required steps
up on your phone, it will trick you into walking more. I don’t always hit my
goal, but at 10k steps a day, when I do it’s nearly 5 miles of walking.
Do you have a dog? I do, I have a 2 ½ year-old puppy of a
Great Dane. If he sits in the house all day he gets crazy anxious, he gets all
this pent-up energy that must go somewhere. When I take him outside to potty he
zooms around my backyard like he’s never seen the great outdoors before.
And you know what!? That happens to humans, too!
Going for an hour-long walk can be one of the most therapeutic
activities for body and mind.
I believe in you. Get out there and get after it!
Image Credit: Flywheel
I love that you discussed the importance of the mind when working out. I believe the mind is the hardest part. I always find it difficult to get my mind to get through the first week, but once I did, I was able to continue my workouts and I felt so much stronger. It made me feel better not only physically, but mentally. And I believe a lot of people forget how important your mind is when changing lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteThis post is so helpful, sometimes motivation can be so hard to find, or we can get completely discouraged, but the quote that you included "an object in motion stays in motion" really does help to sum up working out. It's so easy to get into the routine of going to the gym everyday, playing sports every day, and as soon as that routine is disrupted it can seem so difficult to find that flow again.
ReplyDeleteI have been taking a yoga class this semester and through the class I have learned the importance of being at piece while you work out. I also found that it is sometimes had to do when you are working out, especially when you are working out around other people. It is hard to not compare yourself to others when you are working out. Also, I love that you included headspace in your article! I've used it previously and have thought out re-downloading it because that app and yoga go hand in hand with each other.
ReplyDeleteI love your the photo you used as a way to start a conversation and give the readers a little laugh. I found this post very helpful and motivational in the best way. There can be some "motivational" posts that really only make you feel bad about yourself in the end, but your voice within this post comes through in a purely helpful way! You also have great interaction with the readers within the post.
ReplyDeleteI really love how you took the photo and really connected it to your blog. It is really something to think about, definitely. You can continue going how you are, or you can go in the opposite direction and change your life. I think that it really just depends on how motivated you are. I personally got to that fork in the road, and I took that turn to change for the better. Boy am I glad I did that. I really think this blog will help with changing people's minds!
ReplyDeleteThis was an awesome read! I love the picture you used to really make us think about being a fork in the road. It puts a bigger picture in my head. I liked that you describe our mind when working out. Our mind is what keeps us from doing what's hard. If we can tell ourselves that this is what's best for us and it's not that hard, then we can over come our mind!
ReplyDelete