Walking

 For the past couple of weeks, exercising has gotten really hard again. I think part of it may be that jinx of thirds that I've written about in the past, but part of it is that my chronic health issues are starting to flare up again, so I'm sleeping very poorly and very low energy. 

Everything feels hard. I try to explain it to people by saying that on a good day, we can just make coffee. You do it, it's automatic, and you don't think of it beyond "making coffee". On a bad day, you have to go to the kitchen, open the cupboard door, look for the right container with the coffee beans, grind the coffee, open the cupboard with the filter, place the filter in the coffeemaker, measure the right amount of coffee, add water... etc. And at every step is the opportunity to get bogged down so that you can't finish what you're doing. Sadly, I've been having a lot of those days lately.

But I haven't wanted to stop exercising, because I think if I stop then it will be twice as hard to get started again. It would be so easy to give up and say well I couldn't do it. I have been taking more rest days when I'm exhausted, but I'm not giving up; I'm still hitting that recommendation of 150 active minutes per week. That's only just over 20 minutes a day- it's doable!

So instead I've been lowering the length and intensity of my workouts. It's been pretty bad weather lately, so I haven't been able to walk outside for quite some time. But I still have my exercise class videos and I've just been choosing ones that are shorter and lower impact. In a future post, I'll share a week of exercise with you all so maybe some of you would like to follow along with me!

On the subject of walking, I found this great article in the Wall Street Journal recently that talked about the benefits of simply walking. Research has shown that simply walking only 11 minutes per day briskly can lower your risk of stroke, heart attack, and even some kinds of cancer! So even if you aren't up to doing anything intensive, you can still increase your fitness level, burn some calories, and get healthier! No matter how busy you are, you can find 11 minutes a day- you're worth it and you deserve to put yourself first for just a few minutes at least!

Warmer weather should be coming soon and I'm looking forward to getting back outside again, not to mention getting a boost of vitamin D. I'm proud of myself for not giving up. It would have been so easy to say that I just can't handle it right now, I'm too tired, and I'll go back to it. But I really can do it, if I make modifications. If something looks too big or hard, see if there is a way that you can change it to make it a little easier. Nothing says we have to be at our best all the time, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try our best!