This past week was a doozy for me. The beginning of the week was filled with rest and recovery from expending a lot of energy hosting my mother in my home for a week. I’d come down with a cold (they always suck, but they stink in the summertime!) because of the expenditure – my immune system made my body take a break!
There was work to be done as well as my own exercise that I needed (and did want) to do, but I had to take Monday through Wednesday off to get better. I’ve learned enough through the years to know when I need to rest and when I should push through.
Later in the week, I picked work back up and did the same with my exercise. I’ve been training for a (long) triathlon that will take place at the end of next month and the workouts are important for me to be able to complete it well.
The longer exercise sessions that I had scheduled for the weekend: I did not feel like doing by the time I got to the weekend.
However, I knew that my body was well enough recovered from the sickness that I could go outside and do them. So, I got myself up on Saturday morning, laced up my shoes, and went out for my long run. It didn’t feel the best, but I felt great finishing it. On Sunday, I got my bicycle out and went out for my long ride. It, again, did not feel the best, but I felt the best finishing that workout.
What I’m getting at here is that all of us go through those times where we don’t feel like doing it but know we need to do it.
“It” can account for anything when it comes to our health, fitness, and wellness (as well as other areas) – say, our clean/balanced nutrition, our exercise, our sleep, our stress management tools, etc.
The importance is working with our own selves and determining what is the priority we have. If, at the end of the day, my goal is to be healthy, fit, and well, resting on my sick days was the right decision to make, even if I didn’t necessarily want to do it. If that is still my goal when I am feeling better, doing the exercise was the right decision to make, even if I didn’t necessarily want to do it.
Keeping your goals in mind all the time is key – not only to accomplishment, but to peace of mind.
Peace of mind comes from making the firm decisions. Have you ever had that day (or maybe a few of them..) when you had an intention to eat healthy/clean or to exercise and you didn’t follow through? How much energy did you spend all day resisting and thinking about it? I like to take the thinking out of it and simply revert back to the goal. And sometimes, that goal is a mental health day in which I do not do the exercise that I had planned. (It’s okay to do that, too, you know).
Stay in tune with your body and your mind and emotions as well as your goals. Learn how to work well with yourself – you’re around each other all the time! 🙂