Fighting My Way Back

While I wrote about feeling younger these days in my last post, the outside is not feeling so young. Way too many pounds have been added on to my body in the last 10 to 15 years. I have had my list of rationalizations.

Pregnancy: 5 pregnancies, 30 months in 4 years, 2 kids
Time: Kids, running a business, life
Depression: After my dad died in 2000 I went into the worst depression of my life. Ingest chocolate. Add 50 pounds.

I got out of the habit of exercising. I started to be afraid to start again. It would be hard. It would feel uncomfortable. What would I do? Time and money constraints impose some limitations. Add to that bum knees, and some arthritis, and the options narrow.

Well, I am shifting my thinking. I was writing about this the other night and came to some important insights. First, it will never be any easier to get started than it is right now. Second, I have to let go of the judgement. Yes I am overweight and I am not a pretty picture exercising. But who cares. Carrying around the judgement is like carrying around an added burden. I just need to put it down and walk away. I will not ever be able to get fit and enjoy that state if I continue to judge myself so harshly. Finally, all I have to do is move. It does not matter so much what I do, as that I do something!

I have found a dance exercise show on my cable company's On Demand programming. It is Latin dancing. I am tripping over my own feet but, the music is fun. The woman teaching the class is wonderful. Her positive energy is contagious. I want to exercise when she is on. I feel good when I am done. That wonderful energized calm that I remember from years past.

So why am I sharing this? Well, this morning it occurred to me that this process I am going through with exercise can apply to so many other things in life that we procrastinate about. The creative blocks that holds many of us back at times.

Some times the most valuable lessons in our lives are from our struggles. Things which come easy are our gifts. But they do not teach us as much, or help us grow as much as our struggles can.

So here are the rules:
It will never be any easier to do than it is today.
Put down the judgement and walk away. Leave it behind.
Just move. (or create, or whatever it is that you need to do.)

Three rules. That is is. They are my mantra right now. I hope they can help you in some way.