Exercise is a Ticket: Is yours to slavery or freedom?
āRunningās a punishment. I donāt run unless Iām being chased! Haha!ā says every unoriginal person who thinks they can laugh away their inner conflicts. Ā Exercise frees us from the limitations of disease and fatigue. Ā Yet, you can exercise and still be a slave to the treadmill.Ā Does your exercise approach punish or set you free?
Physical Freedom
To start, letās first recognize that exercise has the potential to bring two dimensions of freedom.Ā The first is physical freedom. Ā This includes freedom from disease, physical limitations, and medication.
Furthermore, as we age, the accumulation of a lifetime of habitsāeither a physically active or a sedentary lifestyle become visible.Ā Generally speaking, lifetime exercisers maintain the ability to live independently without assistance.Ā On the other hand, those who live a chronically sedentary lifestyle progressively lose their independence.Ā
Without our physical health, we are not our best.Ā We cannot we serve others optimally with energy and strength, and we canāt truly experience and enjoy all that life has to offer.
Without our physical health, we are not our best.Ā We cannot we serve others optimally with energy and strength, and we canāt truly experience and enjoy all that life has to offer.
The Freedom Paradox
While exercise brings physical freedom, many people still feel like a prisoner to their treadmill.Ā As a friend of mine was leaving the gym the other day she said, āIām not working out this weekend. Iāll think of you guys though, while youāre here suffering!āĀ Her commentary exposes that she views exercise as a self-inflicted form of punishment.Ā Therein lies the freedom paradox such that: she is physically fit and free from physical limitations only to becomes a prisoner to her exercise regimen.Ā What a tragedy!
People feel that exercise is a punishment for several reasons (click for more resources):
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Learned attitudes
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Negative experiences
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Motives that undermine enjoyment
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Controlling spouse, parents, others
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Good intentions that point the wrong direction
How Experience the Freedom of Exercise
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Acknowledge that you are free to exercise …or not.Ā Ā
No one can make you exercise.Ā Your spouse, your mom, or coach may exert their not so subtle guilt trips when they ask, āare you going to exercise today?āĀ [Their eyebrows raised.] Ā Whether they lay a guilt trip or notāultimately, itās still your choice! Ā
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Design an enjoyable exercise regimen.
Donāt force yourself to go down to your dark basement to do a lame exercise video if you donāt like to do it.Ā There are so many modes of exercise.Ā Find a mode and intensity that you like.Ā There is something for enjoyable everyone.
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Re-frame your exertion.
When you exercise and your heart beats harder, you breathe faster, and you get hot and sweaty, remember that this is not your body suffering.Ā This is your body coming alive and getting stronger!
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Choose gratitude.
Exercise is not suffering.Ā Suffering is when we are hurt, injured, and unable to move without pain.Ā Suffering is missing out because we are watching on the sidelines.Ā Instead, when we are grateful that we can walk, run, swim, dance, or move, we appreciate the experience.Ā
Tomorrow is not guaranteed.Ā What a gift it is that today we can live, move, and breathe.Ā When we exercise, we come alive, we seize the day. Ā Ā
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