Accept the Challenge

We are in the midst of winter, and though it has been milder than most, many of us take the cold weather as a good excuse to skip the gym and instead run inside to the warmth of our houses for a cozy night in. There’s nothing wrong with sitting by the fire and watching a good flick now and again—the problem comes when we make this our winter hibernation lifestyle.

I just graduated from college, and it has been interesting transitioning from school to life in the workforce. I have every intention of getting to the gym after work, and usually I do, but on many winter days I feel the hours passing by and my exhaustion climbing slowly. Then, when 4:30 p.m. comes around and I’m heading out the door, I start making excuses about why I shouldn’t go work out—“I’m so tired”, “I’ll definitely go tomorrow”, or “I just don’t have the time right now.” Maybe you’ve made some of these excuses, too. Sometimes they are valid, but sometimes you know deep down that you just don’t want to work out.

I’m not blaming you—winter is a time when the trees are bare, the grass is covered in snow, and venturing outside to go anywhere seems like a chore. But here’s a challenge for you: don’t make exercise a chore, make it a reward.

“I’m so tired”

Exercise can be the big payoff to a long day. After working in an office or any other setting, you might be exhausted, but when I work out after a long day at work, I actually feel more energized. This is because I’ve separated my mental exhaustion from work with my physical state of being. So I challenge you, when you feel exhausted, to push yourself a bit further and fight off winter hibernation by getting in those important minutes of exercise.

“I’ll definitely go tomorrow”

Why put off for tomorrow what you could be doing today? When we put off exercising, it’s not like we are bothering the gyms we belong to, the streets we run on, or the weights we lift. We are really only hurting ourselves by not getting the proper exercise we need. To be more committed to exercising, I write down “work out at 5:15” in my planner or on my calendar. It’s an actual fact that when people write things down, they are more committed to doing those things; they feel a sense of accountability and obligation. I challenge you to hold yourself accountable and write down exercise “appointments.” You can also plan to work out with another person, which can be encouraging and keep both of you accountable.

“I just don’t have time right now”

Make time. This seems like a bossy request, but someone has to say it. On the days I have skipped going to the gym because I felt too busy, I came home, did the errands and other things I needed to do, and then found myself bored by 6:30 p.m. I don’t go to bed until around 10:30 or 11:00 p.m., so I had four free hours. What did I do with those free hours? Watched television, surfed the internet, and felt guilty about not exercising. To counter this bad pattern, I plan ahead for when I have those busy days, and pack a gym bag in the morning. Then I run my errands and afterwards all of that I head to the gym (and often by the time I get there, it is a lot less busy).

I don’t have children, so I can’t truly understand the complexity of adding them to the craziness that is life, but something my parents did with me when I was a child was play active games. You can play Simon Says with your kids and hop around, run in circles, shake your arms, and so on. You can watch television and move around during commercial breaks by running in place. Kids don’t have to be the reason you can’t go and exercise; they can be your motivation to exercise. So, I challenge you to find and make time to be active.

Do you accept the challenge?