So I have a confession to make.
While I am a Life Coach who promotes a philosophy of creating healthy daily habits for a happier mind and body… I did not always live this way.
As a kid, I ate all the junk food I could get my hands on. A typical breakfast was sugared-cereal or cinnamon toast on white bread. Weekends were sticky buns and doughnuts.
As a teenager, I often came home and made myself a big bowl of Top Ramen (loaded with monosodium glutamate). I drank sodas whenever I had the chance, and I almost never drank water.
I preferred to live on pizza, pasta, and bread more than anything else. I don’t remember ever eating vegetables until I was an adult.
Oh… and I smoked cigarettes for almost a decade. Yeah, I know, not good.
But if that wasn’t bad enough, I, also, hated to exercise.
Although I did enjoy playing tetherball, four-square, and handball at recess in elementary school, by the time I got to junior high, “playing” got replaced with physical education. YUCK!
Exercise became a dreaded chore and no longer fun.
In college, I reluctantly joined a gym, because that was what everyone else was doing. But I never broke a sweat because I had no idea what I was doing when I was attempting to “work out.”
It wasn’t until I was in my late 30s that I learned to play tennis, and that’s when I learned exercise can be fun.
On the days I could play, it would help me start (or end) my day happier and more energetic.
Unfortunately, tennis was not always an option (weather, various injuries, finding people to play with, etc), so I needed to diversify.
Eventually, I took up yoga, cycling, and then later spinning as alternatives.
Exercise has now become one of my daily habits, and it makes a HUGE difference in both my mind and body.
I now have my clients who struggle to incorporate exercise into their daily routine, here are some of the easy hacks that I give them to help stay on track:
-Find something that you LIKE doing… any kind of “movement” counts.
-Schedule it. Write it in your calendar.
-Find a workout buddy.
-Have your workout clothes, shoes, equipment ready to go first thing in the a.m.
-Plan a snack.
(Most people bail on their workout at the end of the day, because they are too tired or hungry. Have a snack ready BEFORE you go play/exercise.)
Look the truth is if I am not playing tennis, I still hem and haw on most days about motivating to get moving after a long day at the office. But once I do it, I ever regret it, and I promise you won’t either.
It’s all about making it fun… and making it a habit.
Happy Wednesday!
xo, Jackie
