When I reflect back on my exercise routine from the past 10 years, I see a lot of variation. While working on my bachelor’s degree in the mountains of North Carolina, I was spending a lot of time outdoors rocking climbing, trail running and occasionally mountain biking. I was doing what I LOVED. Exercise was effortless. But when my husband and I moved to the flat, hotness of South Georgia, my previous routine was no longer an option. Instead, I’d go out for early morning jogs that incorporated crunches and pushups (I ran down this llllooooonnnngggg, straight, sandy road that was lined with telephone poles – the “cross training” was a way to break the monotony). Still, that got boring, so I mixed it up with climbing in a gym, spin classes and I started road biking, which was actually a great way to check out some corn, soybean, and cotton fields (if you’ve never seen a cotton field, it’s actually quite beautiful, seriously). But the routine I just described wasn’t exactly what I wanted to be doing. I just kept thinking of the good ol’ days of exercising outside with friends and how I just wanted that back. So when my husband got a job in Vermont, I was overjoyed that I’d once again be heading to the mountains, crushing some rock, and darting through the trees with my dog.
Needless to say, Vermont wasn’t all that I thought it would be. The rock climbing didn’t compare to what we had in North Carolina and the winters were MUCH longer than I had ever imagined. Trail running just wasn’t a year-round option as I had expected. I mean, we get snow in western North Carolina, so I thought I was ready – I trained for a marathon in NC while occasionally running in 8 – 12” of snow. In retrospect, I guess you could say that I was wildly ignorant to the fact that the snow doesn’t melt until May in the northeast. It just keeps piling up. But of course, I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I jogged, hiked, mountain biked, joined an indoor climbing gym and bought some cross country skies to piddle around on during the winter.
And then came baby Owen. Trail running – out. Mountain biking – not with the baby. Climbing – you get the picture. Now what? I walk with a stroller, I hike with a backpack, my husband and I take turns going out on relatively short bike rides by ourselves while the other person watches the kiddo, I have a climbing date with a girlfriend one night each week during the winter, and I found that I kind of enjoy at-home workouts in the winter when it’s cold and I run out of time for anything else.
Why am I telling you all of this? Because it’s my reflection on how I made it work and hopefully it will inspire you to make it work too. We all have our excuses and it wasn’t easy for me to develop these new exercise routines. I honestly just kept thinking that I wanted things to be the way that they used to be back in NC. But that was yesterday and if I kept thinking that way then I’d never move forward and learn to accept and find opportunity in my current situation. I’ve slowed down in my exercise routine quite a bit (a 5-mile stroller walk isn’t much compared to a 12-mile trail run) and I imagine that I’ll continue to slow down as I become more involved in my career, build a family and find that exercise takes a backseat to the needs of my loved ones. But I know that I’ll continue to make it work. When I take that time for myself to get my blood pumping, I come back and I’m a new woman. I’m energized, more patient, relaxed, self-confident, have higher self-esteem, sleep better. The list goes on. And that’s why I do it, that’s why I make it work.
So my challenge to you is to find what works. Set your goal and figure out how to make it happen. And don’t choose to do nothing because you can do very little (if you can only walk a ½ mile, then you walk a ½ mile). Take time to invest in yourself and you’ll see major improvements in your life. Stop making excuses and start making it work.
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