I recently did a podcast on selfcare, How to prioritize self-care when life is full Ep 118. In it I shared that I had recently purchased a gym membership. This blog is an update on what I am learning and how it is going with the hopes that my experience will help you as you wrestle with your own barriers to taking care of yourself.
Hold all plans loosely. My kids and myself have been taking turns being sick. So consistency has been a challenge. But when I have been healthy I have been able to get to the gym. Plans change sometimes and being open to that will make it easier when it happens.
Motivation is an ongoing challenge. Not being able to be consistent has meant that I have had to work hard to get back into the rhythm when circumstances have allowed me to get to the gym. It has surprised me how hard it has been to maintain my momentum and motivation.
Know your why and remind yourself often. When it gets hard to motivate myself I remind myself of why I want to do this and why it is important.
Kids don’t care. My kids have been supportive of me going to the gym, they have even at times motivated me to keep going, and have not noticed a big difference in the amount of time I am spending with them. Which I find surprising because when I am not working I spend a lot of intentional time with them. So if you are having mom guilt just do the thing.
Benefits have surpassed expectations. I knew exercising again would have benefits for my physical and mental health. But it has surpassed my expectations. I also recently had surgery and while being performed they found out I had endometriosis. So both of these things happened at the same time (my surgery and exercising). My energy levels as a result have been higher than I expected, I feel more like myself than I have in over a decade.
My gym app keeps me accountable. The gym I go to has an app. You need to reserve classes if you want to go and if you can’t show up you must cancel ahead of time. The fact that I have RSVPd has really helped hold me accountable, I have been surprised how much it has helped with my motivation. Perhaps I should not be as I am a 3 on the enneagram and driven by results.
I am not perfect and I can only hope that I will keep up with the gym. But I am off to a good start and working hard to build it into my lifestyle and create habits.
So if you are wondering if you should do the thing, do the thing. And if you think that you can’t prioritize yourself, life is too busy, listen to the episode on how to prioritize self-care to get you started. Get it here.
“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.”
-Estee Lauder
What have you been trying to work on to improve your self-care? I would love to know, please share in the comments.