while i was home for a bit (home being at my parent’s house, not mine!), i was reminded how important it is to just MOVE your body for the sake of moving it. before getting there, i prepared myself for DOING WHAT I WANTED even though i wasn’t at my own home. that meant i packed some weights to do my exercises, i packed hazel’s leash to go for walks (even though it wasn’t needed there!) and i packed shoes to ensure that i was equipped with everything i needed to KEEP MOVING!
and – it worked! i was armed with the tools i needed to MOVE MY BODY!
the first thing you have to do before you can do ANY OF THIS is have the right mindset... i’ve said it before and i will say it again – MINDSET IS EVERYTHING! go read my blog post about it here and then, once you have it, keep reading!!!
1 – do not do it because you feel like you HAVE to – do it because you WANT TO!
this for sure starts with mindset BUT also, i can tell you now – it doesn’t matter who you are – if you don’t like doing something, YOU WON’T STICK TO IT. sure – you might do it for a week, heck, maybe even two. but that’s it – after that you’ll find an excuse to throw in the towel – and i wouldn’t blame you for that one bit. you’re not doing something you love, let alone like, so why do it?! you SHOULDN’T! find what you LOVE and do it!
me personally – i love weights. i love lifting heavy stuff and putting it back down. why? i don’t know – but it doesn’t matter. it’s what MOVES ME! and so i do it. do you love taking walks – awesome! go do that!!! you think walking is too slow but love running – great! RUN! both of those sound boring and you prefer to meditate and hold poses – do some yoga!
the point – try things out, see what you enjoy, give it a go for a week and if after that week is over, you truly love doing it – keep going! you hate it, try something different! you are NOT a failure if you don’t like something – it’s okay to not like everything but it IS IMPORTANT to find something you love doing each and every day to KEEP YOU MOVING!
2 – make it FUN!
there are times where we may find something that we do love doing but we need to step it up a notch because it can fall into the dull mundane routine. sometimes we have to be creative when this happens.
as i said before, i like lifting. i can do a lifting program all day long but sometimes, by week 4 i’m a little bored. let me be clear – this doesn’t mean i don’t love it, it just means i need to make it more fun – and fun to me = more challenging! don’t hesitate to ask a friend to join you in a challenge. do a step challenge a friend to do the same program with you and set goals for yourselves to push yourself to get there!
even easier – set an all day step challenge with some friends. simply make it the most steps in the day and help push each other for a week! for those that live nearby, do it together and plan some walks or even a hike on the weekend! make it fun, challenge each other and keep EACH OTHER MOVING!
3 – find the random stuff and use it to your advantage
the whole, “take the stairs instead of the elevator” is absolutely a great example of this!! but there are other ways too – sometimes for me (and this might sound like lunacy!) but i will walk to my barn and then around the house to check the mail – is it 100% the OPPOSITE direction for me to go to get the mail – YES it is! but does it get me outside to enjoy the fresh air a little longer than normal! ABSOLUTELY! and it also gives me more time not in front of my computer during the work day. it’s random, it’s out of the way, it gets me more steps, it gives me 2 extra minutes of me time and it KEEPS ME MOVING! maybe you live in a house where you never have to go upstairs – take a field trip up there once a week to see what needs to be done – or better yet – just to have a change of scenery in the house! have you ever heard of the “lazy man’s load”?! it’s when you put AS MUCH STUFF AS POSSIBLE into your arms so you only have to make one trip (GUILTY!) next time, take 4 trips back and forth to the car to unload those groceries – not because you can’t carry them all at once, but to get those extra steps and moves IN! little things like that add up, keep you moving and help keep you healthy EACH AND EVERY DAY!
there are tons of other things that you can do to push yourself to move every single day. one thing i will say is this – when i was younger my grandmother lived in a 3 story home – she had 1 bathroom and it was on the second floor. she had a kitchen so small that most of her canned goods were kept in the basement. each and every single day she would go up and down stairs without blinking an eye. when she sold that home and moved to a single floor home, she stopped doing stairs, and the sad reality was she started losing the ability to do stairs. just like most things in life – if you do not use it, you lose it. don’t let stopping get in the way of your ability to MOVE. we should MOVE each and every day. it’s simple, it’s easy and it’s probably the most important thing you can do for yourself, your mindset and your body!
so get out there and MOVE!!!
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