Why You Should Seriously Rethink Exercise

Over the last 25 years, the one constant in my life has been exercise. I’m sure at this point, you are rolling your eyes at the dread of the thought. You probably picture pain, stiffness, awkwardness, stuffy gyms and guilt (for not going).I want to offer you a different approach and hopefully by the end of this post I can convince you of the amazing benefits and how it can be life changing.Firstly, it is the one change you can make in your life that is literally just for you. Now just because you are aware it is something you should be doing, it doesn’t necessarily mean we make the time to do it. It’s like smoker’s reading pamphlets on the known dangers of smoking and don’t really care and carry on because it’s the mind-set, ‘it will never happen to me’.Here are some of the benefits you probably are aware of:

• Zaps anxiety
• Boosts creativity & problem solving
• Boosts immunity
• Brings on better sleep
• Improves body image
• Strengthen the brain

Yawn…right?Ok here is one benefit you never knew about. Benefit is the wrong word, here is a gift that no one talks about.Let’s take it a few steps back. When you partake in any physical activity, it starts with a conscious choice. The choice to do something positive and healthy for yourself even if the motivation is you get to watch your favourite TV series at the same time.That choice then moves into placing the activity into your calendar into a dedicated time slot. For example, tomorrow I will do my yoga, spinning, run – at 6:30am.Now the most significant part of the whole process is following through and showing up to yourself. Not hitting the snooze button on the phone but actually getting up and following through on your commitment to yourself. Arriving at the venue and completing the exercise or task you intended to.There is a magic in this process – just by scheduling and showing up – guess what – you have already won the day! You proved to yourself that you are enough, you are worth getting up for and taking the positive steps to do something for you. Now you may have hated the entire experience but you still showed yourself that you can do it – even when you don’t feel like it. Maybe you just did a 10 minute walk but that’s a start.When you exercise regularly, you are showing yourself your true inner strength again and again. Each time you go, you find yourself getting stronger, less fatigued and dare I say even enjoying it. Your mind starts to help you form new neural pathways to perform these tasks even more efficiently. The best part is this one tiny change creates a ripple effect in other areas of your life. I have a colleague who started exercising just 15 minutes a few days a week. She then found herself sleeping better, eating better and best of all – she started speaking up in meetings. Asking for the projects she always wanted to be part of. Yes, my friends – all this from just 15 minutes.The process of showing up to yourself builds the confidence and resilience muscle. It’s hard to know your true strength unless your show yourself on a regular basis. Think about it – we don’t really get daily opportunities to prove our inner strength.Don’t wait for tragedy or illness or something external to show yourself. It’s in the way we show up to ourselves everyday even when we don’t feel like it. Especially when we don’t. Just by showing up, you’ve won the day and it gives you the emotional bandwidth to cope with whatever presents itself to you.This is how it shows up in my world..I go to gym at 5:30, 5 mornings a week. I have been doing this consistently for years. I have two children aged 4 and 6 – you would think they sleep through the night by now but often one comes in at 2am, the other one 4am. But when my alarm goes off, I get up. Yes my mind is telling me to feel sorry for myself for my broken sleep – but I’ve learnt to be smarter than my mind. I get it’s trying to protect me so I get up anyway. I’ve planned everything the night before so when I walk into the kitchen – everything is set up for me and I go on autopilot. 15 minutes into the workout, I feel amazing. My body knows what to do and just gets on with it. I’m building mental resilience to show myself I can do it even on the days where it isn’t perfect. And often, I am stronger on these days and even surprise myself that I could do it.It’s not just about the gym, the exercise. It is when the same thing happens and I need to deliver a big talk, I know I can do it. Often we tell ourselves, ‘if only I had a good sleep, if only I wasn’t sick – it would have been different’.You need these days to prepare you when life happens. You need to know your mental strength and capability to cope with whatever life throws at you. It could be a sick relative, child, a work crisis. We all go through tough and stressful times. Once you know you are enough because you have proved it to yourself with action– you can tackle anything. Choosing something to show up to everyday just for you is how we build the confidence muscle, the resilience muscle. It is a muscle and needs to be worked to get stronger. We can’t think our way there unfortunately.So I encourage you – take out your calendar and schedule in just 15 minutes for you. Get a friend involved, have an accountability buddy to meet. And make sure it something you enjoy and want to do. Then show up and see what happens. You’ll never look back.Here’s to showing up to yourself,Warm wishesLori