This morning on my walk through I had an epiphany that I want to share with you.
This morning as I walked through the wood I was thinking about exercise. Some of you know I’ve been on a long healing journey with many twists and turns. Since getting thyroid medication my doctor asked me to track how much exercise I’m getting. I’ve been in huge resistance about that off and on.
I love to move my body. But….
I want my body movement to feel driven by my body’s desire to move not something imposed on me by the outside. I have a story that if I track it, I’ll stop doing it or that people will know and they’ll have opinions about that and I will back away from my goal or my desire in the face of other people’s criticisms. I realized that I’ve been doing with exercise what many of my clients do with money: they avoid getting more intimate with it because some story stands in their way.
I got stopped by the stories in my head. (Yeah I know, you do too sometimes. That’s why I can tell you this.)
So I thought if I can ask you to do something hard, then I’ll meet you with a thing that’s hard for me.
Actually, I want to reframe that. I don’t have a request that you track your money, I have an invitation. Because it’s not about me or what I want. My intention is to create a space of acceptance and love for people to have the relationship with money they really want. So I invite you into a deeper level of intimacy with your finances and offer a possibility of tracking as one of the gifts in that space.
And I’m inviting myself into a deeper level of intimacy with my body. So I thought I’d share with you how much I’ve exercised this week. I haven’t told anyone a whole week’s worth before, so this is kind of a big deal. Please be gentle with me.
Sunday: lap swimming 35 minutes
Monday: nothing
Tuesday: 50 minutes lap swimming
Wednesday: Lots of shopping and walking and parking a little dancing (What? Don’t judge.)
Thursday: 20 minutes of walking
Friday: 35 minutes of hiking in my forest
When I spell it all out it might not seem like much, but a couple of years ago this seemed un-possible. I’m kind of proud that I’ve been able to do so much in a consistent way recently. It’s been 9 months since I started swimming again I’m finally feeling really good and starting to extend my workouts consistently. It’s taken quite a bit of doing on my part to be able to show up this much.
I also want you to notice that I did not do something every day and I did include a thing or two that might not be traditional exercise. I’m giving myself credit for doing something even if it’s not the biggest, brightest, boldest thing ever. It’s something. And doing something counts.
So I invite you to share with me a success you’ve had recently. Even if it’s small or seems like it might not be a huge thing – especially if it’s important to you but feels a little vulnerable. I totally want to hear about it.
Thank you for being on this journey with me.
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