Good question, because I've been trying to go for a while!
I did a thing today!
I went to the gym! – You may assume I do this every day… but I don’t. I’m not the biggest fan of a gym but I love completing a workout at the gym and feeling good. I prefer to work out on my treadmill in my basement and watch my favorite shows in the comfort of my own home.
Well, my treadmill has been broken for the last month and it is KILLING ME. Every night when I lay in bed I say to myself, “OK, tomorrow I have to go to the gym! I’m doing it tomorrow! And I’m going to do it every day”. Then I wake up... and somehow the urge to go to the gym isn’t there anymore. I convince myself that I’ll run around my house enough to count as much as the gym workout. And I do run around my house- I always make sure to hit my step goals for the day (I’ll talk about this in a future post, but I’m OBSESSED with StepBet!)
But the activity I get bouncing around, running in place, in my home is NOTHING compared to a workout I’d get at the gym… and secretly I knew that already.
So today I finally made the plunge. I had the normal, pre-sleep convo in my head, but then when I woke up, I put it into action. I first told myself, “OK, today we’re doing it. We’re getting dressed now, taking the kids to school then driving straight to the gym!” and then I took the step further to say OUT LOUD to my husband. “I’m going to the gym today!” So now I felt like I really had to.
I put myself in automatic mode and didn’t even think about it further, it was just what I was doing.
- I got dressed in my gym outfit.
- I found my earphones (well, no, actually I couldn’t find my AirPods because only God knows when I used them last and where I put them! But I found my other wired headphones.)
- I made sure I had my gym pass.
- Loaded the car with the kids.
- Dropped kids off at school.
- Drove to the gym- with no other plans allowed.
And once I was there it was easy! I had an amazing one-hour long run on the treadmill engrossed in a Netflix horror film and then did three machines (I’ll get there, OK, baby steps). And right now I feel GREAT! The hardest part was just driving to the gym!
So, I know it’s hard to do things that we don’t want to do. But sometimes you just have to put your blinders on, turn off your brain and make the first steps without even thinking!
If you don’t have a gym membership there's no reason to fret! Just put your sneakers on and get out of the house (thoughtlessly) and just start walking! Just start walking and you will feel so much better. Find your way to increase your activity during the day and there is no way you will not regret it.