Blog Archives
Recharging My Batteries
Exactly what I’m doing right now.
Visiting my sister in Southern California, going for hikes, tasting wine, exploring the mountains and the beach, soaking up some sun, and enjoying family time.
Do I have to come back to Chicago?
Falling for Fall
I know that it’s still summer technically, but here are the things I am sooooooo excited about for this coming fall:
I know I’m all grown up (kind of), but I still love Michigan football. It represents so many things to me and brings back so many wonderful memories that I can’t help but be obsessed this time of year. Learning ‘The Victors’ with my little sister while standing in the living room of the house we grew up in. Going to games with my dad as a 12-year-old awkward kid, shaking my maize and blue pom in the stands (please, please, never give up those tickets, Dad!). Watching my first game from the student section as a freshman, finally understanding the enormity of the stadium and completely in awe of how big the Big House really is. Tailgating with my best friends before the game, relating tales of the night before while drinking terrible light beer at 7am on Saturday mornings (yeah, Big 10 schools know tailgating), and staying in the stadium until they kicked us out after the last game of my senior year. Reunions now with my best friends once every fall. And that barely begins to cover it.
My mom’s turkey chili is one of my favorite meals for fall. It reminds me of all of the healthy habits my mom passed along to my sister and me growing up, and it’s seriously amazing, hearty comfort food all the same. Especially when you add as much hot sauce as you can physically handle…and when you sprinkle it liberally with a three-cheese mix and scoop it up with blue-corn tortilla chips. Yeah, healthy… Either way, I made it earlier today and am still full hours later. Who wants leftovers?
Ah, honeycrisp apples. Or really any apples you can pick in Michigan. But these are especially amazing, because they’re huge, juicy, tart, sweet, and so crunchy! I know it’s fall when I see these popping up in grocery stores.
Running is so much better in autumn! Summer running and I don’t really get along (gasp. midwest. humidity. can’t. breathe. at. all.), and I’m not hardcore enough to stay running outside in the negative windchill we get here in Chicago, so fall running is one of my favorite things ever. Long-sleeved tees, leggings, and fall 5ks — ahh, can’t wait!
Not sweating constantly. I realize that I’m a personal trainer, and being active is part of my job, but this summer has been ridiculous. I feel like I was sweating before I even got to work, and even my easy bike ride to work left me more than glowing. I’m pretty pumped to be able to wear jeans (and I’m not even a jeans person) and a blazer while drinking hot coffee and be completely comfortable.
New school years. Fresh starts. Back-to-school shopping. I always loved the new academic year, where I got new books, new pens, new notebooks. I got to learn new things! Take new classes! Come back a little less dorky than I had the year before! People hadn’t seen you in a while, so even if you didn’t look any different, you come back as someone completely new, hopefully for the better. I really feel that the beginning of the school year, no matter how old you are, is one of the best times to start fresh, because it’s not only less cliche than the new calendar year, but it’s right before the weather (at least in the midwest) sort of wipes everything out and clears the slate for you with winter. I, myself, am planning to take advantage of the change in seasons. I always felt like I came back a better version of myself throughout school, so I figure, why not continue the trend?
Anyway, enough about me — what are YOU excited about for fall? Do you share any of my favorites? Did I miss one of your major faves for fall?
Bittersweet
Since it’s the last day of August, and fall is fast approaching, I’ve been reevaluating a lot of my goals. What better time to start fresh than what’s the beginning of the school year for many? And I guess I like starting fresh a lot. Anyway, along with new goals usually comes a little introspection, so here’s what I was thinking about this week. Be back soon with some new goals for fall and healthy autumn things I’m excited about!
It’s funny, I’ve never been a dramatic person. Growing up, I had plenty of friends, but I always kind of just naturally stayed out of trouble and just… out of the way. Arguments with friends (rather small ones, by the way) were resolved quickly and anticlimactically, breakups were painless enough and always seemed to be on friendly terms, and my parents had it relatively easy seeing how I never went through that whole ‘teen angst’ phase. I was never the friend with the story, and besides when I was on stage singing, I wasn’t the center of attention, and I was just fine with that. It wasn’t that I never had any excitement, but it was just usually the good kind, and the letdowns were small or kept to myself. The decisions I made — good or bad (but mostly good, because I was, as I like to say, annoyingly well-behaved) — didn’t impact too many people, left me with no sworn enemies, and never made me wonder if my friends would have my back. I even lived in a sorority house with 71 other women, escaping with minimal drama. The biggest issue I had was one sister sending out a house email about the loofah left in the shower (really?) that just happened to be mine, which I don’t think she expected because when I fessed up immediately (uh, it was an accident?) she stopped her tirade on the spot. No, really. A house full of Greek estrogen, and the worst problem I had was that someone made fun of my sponge. Clearly, I wasn’t vying for the drama queen title.
But recently, in the last year or so, I’ve gotten a little more…dramatic. And I don’t mean that I’m just emoting more (ask my sister — I’ve been doing that my entire life). I mean that I feel I’ve been stirring things up and making decisions that I knew would lead to drama because I was craving something. Excitement? Attention? To break free from the nice girl stigma once and for all? I’m not sure whether I was trying to make up for lost time by choosing the paths that would potentially harm me or those around me (don’t worry, I didn’t do anything that bad), but it definitely affected how I was thinking and acting. Romances coming to a close seemed to cut a little deeper, I started noticing more problems in my friendships, and my parents, unfortunately, suffered some of the backlash of me trying to navigate life as an unwilling participant in adulthood. (Sorry, Mom and Dad! Thought you got lucky on that one, huh?)
I didn’t know what was going on. Until… suddenly, as drama-averse as I’ve been my whole life, I got it. I understood why some folks thrive on being in the thick of it and always having someone or something you feel you’re up against. It’s almost as if it’s a high you’re chasing, always looking for the next story or the next little spark to get you through to the next day. It’s a fear of being bored, or maybe, of being boring. Is that was I was rebelling against or running from?
But the thing is, I didn’t have, nor do I want to have, the resources to keep going after it, to keep hunting down that high. I realized that staying up there for so long only leads to a near-fatal crash, so recently, I chose to face the drama, let myself down right then and there, and just hope for a softer landing that might break an arm, but still leave me standing. (So… maybe I need to work on my metaphors.) Anyway, it sucked. For a few days there, the prospect of letting things go and letting myself just be, well, myself — boring Saturday nights on the couch and all — while working on me, was kind of daunting. The thought of facing myself and my goals and the work I need to do to become the person I want to be is more than slightly overwhelming. But I keep reminding myself that I don’t really just want to be the girl with the story — or at least not the kind of stories I was telling. I want to be interesting because of me, plain and simple. I’m over being Jersey Shore, and I’m ready to be OK with being a PBS documentary. At least then I’d be educational, and not in a cautionary tale sort of way.
Because like I said, I’ve never had a penchant for drama.
I have, however, always have a thing for sugar. Which, funny enough, is not entirely unrelated to drama. (You know this is a health blog, did you not expect me to tie it in somehow?) If you think about it, the two have a lot in common. Both are addictive but definitely not necessary. Both boost you up, get you buzzing — at least temporarily — and crash you down. HARD. Both make you lose yourself a bit in the moment, and after, you’re left wondering what just happened, and why you went that far. Both affect your moods and can even make you act a bit irrationally. Both trigger intense cravings for more of the same. Both, until you quit, always make you feel like you need more to keep you going. And after both, you never really like yourself as much when all is said and done.
So what am I doing now? What am I getting at by comparing sugar and drama? What am I changing now that I’ve opined at length about how both have had a negative impact on my life? Besides the fact that both can have detrimental effects on your physical and mental wellbeing, both are hard to just give up. I would love to say I’m planning to make a clean break and cut myself off completely from both, and I challenge you all to join me.
But… I also know that I’m human and that, if you ask, I can give you countless examples of how I respond when I make too many drastic changes at once. I think since I’ve had a whole lot less drama in my life, that one will be easier to cut. I don’t really have too many positive associations tied to it, and I’m pretty sure I was over it before it even began. But the sugar? It’s much more of an addiction, with many more positive feelings attached to it, and that one will be a fight. One worth the battle, absolutely, but a fight nonetheless. Ultimately, though? I can see myself doing without both, and I plan on working hard at getting rid of both temptations. And maybe I’ll do a little ‘life detox’ of sorts. I don’t know yet, but I’ll keep you posted. Fresh start for fall, anyone?
2×13
Sometimes I still act 13. Not 26.
But…that seems to be changing more and more every single day.
It’s not that I’m getting more mature or losing my silly/awkward/naive streak, but I’m just feeling more like an adult should feel — at least in my opinion. I’ve pulled my life together and can very well take care of myself. I’ve got money in the bank, I can handle a crisis rather calmly (usually), and I’ve got a good idea of what I like and what I don’t, what I want out of life, and what I definitely do not.
And today, although I kept forgetting until people would remind me, I turn 26. I don’t have any special plans, and I don’t really intend on making any. Not because I am dreading getting older — quite the contrary — but because I’m more excited about the year ahead than this one day in and of itself.
Year 25? Was an up and down year for me, but I learned a lot, and I know that 26 will be just…beyond. This past year I made plans for what I truly want to do with my future, I found a training job that actually allowed me to start calling fitness my career, I fell in love and in lust (and then back out of both), I learned to trust my first instinct, I met new people that I am thrilled to call my friends, I moved, and I just decided to live life on my own terms. I became a little less afraid to be and trust and love myself — for better or for worse.
I hope all of those things — and more — happen again this year. So in honor of what I’ve done in my previous 25 years and what I want to do in this coming year, here’s my list for 26:
Write a song: For those of you who think I’m just a gym rat, I’ve actually been a performer for a good chunk of my life. Now I’d just like to have some of my own material.
Fall in love: Self explanatory.
Work (mostly) for myself: I honestly don’t mind having a job in which I answer to someone else. But do I want to do this ALL the time? Not quite. And I know that with what I do, and the ideas I have, I could run my own business. So I’d like to try!
Travel: There are so many places I’ve been wanting to see for years! So hopefully I can check a few European countries off the list as well as some incredible US cities in which my close friends and family reside. Here’s to racking up some frequent flyer miles!
Go back to school: I love training, but I’d like to take it one step further and make a little more of a difference in health and fitness. Updates to come.
Move to a new city: This is semi-related to the school thing, but in this next year, Chicago and I need to split for a bit. I love this city, but it was never my original plan to end up here, and I think I owe it to myself to go after my dream. I’m thinking of heading east. But again… more on that later.
Develop my personal style, but with a little more polish: On a completely superficial note, I like my style as it is, but at the same time, the hippie chick/trainer girl look is getting a little tired, even for me. This doesn’t mean I’m going to actually dry my hair too much more or put on loads of makeup or spend a lot of dinero, but I think with a few small tweaks, I can change the way I see my style.
Learn to live in the moment: I need to slow down and appreciate here and now, so I’m going to figure out the best way for me to do it, whether it be yoga or journaling or WHATEVER. If it works for me, I’m going to go with it.
Compete in a figure competition: Did you think I had forgotten about this one? Nope. Still going to do it. Now that I’ve figured out how my body works (it doesn’t necessarily love carbs, sigh), I’m ready. October might not happen (as hard as that is for me to admit), but it will happen in this 26th year of life. No matter when or where I am.
Focus on maintaining my relationships: I have some amazing people in my life, I really do. Unfortunately, during the rough and tumble three years of figuring myself out while in Chicago, I haven’t been amazing at keeping in touch with all of them as well as I should. So I’m going to work on that. I want to know about them (and about you!). As (my idol) Jane Fonda quipped while giving life advice, “It’s more important to be interested than to be interesting.” Amen, sister.
Oh, and I plan on remembering to act 13 every now and then.
Operation Self Love
I’ve decided to completely love myself.
No, really. And, not like that.
I know you might be thinking, ‘Oh, here we go on the self love and self acceptance again.’ Because I have talked about it A LOT. I know. But this time it’s a little different.
I actually came up with this idea on Valentine’s Day, but it felt a little too cliché to post two weeks ago. After spending another Feb14th with my fabulous single self, I was thinking back on an old journal entry of mine that I stumbled upon at the beginning of the year. It was titled ’25 Before 25,’ and it was all about what I wanted to accomplish in my life before I turned 25. Some things on the list were checked off and others were not. But of the ones not completed, the most disappointing was #6: ‘Love myself completely.’
Do I hate myself? Nope. Have I gotten a whole lot closer to this goal in the last few years since I wrote it? You bet. But do I still have a ways to go if I’m being honest? Yes, and it’s going to be a long road. But this time I’m excited about it.
A few years ago, when I first moved to Chicago, I started ‘Project Be Nice‘ for myself. By this I mean, I made an effort to write in a bound notebook (like the one’s you practice cursive in) every single day for 60 days, telling myself all the good things I’d done and making sure I forgave myself when I slipped up. It really did help me work through some things, but I don’t think it was everything I needed.
Here’s the thing, saying kind words to yourself when you need them is easy. It really is. You know how when a friend is hurting, it suddenly becomes the simplest thing in the world to give her a hug and tell her how beautiful she is and how much of a jerk that guy must be? And how it’s so easy for her to do the same for you? Yeah, it’s kind of like that. If something awful happens, it’s easy to tell myself that I’m full of good qualities and that I need to just cut myself some slack and be nice.
But you know what? My really close friends and my family treat me a little differently. If I actually am acting like THAT girl, they hug me, and tell me they love, but yes, I am being her, and I should probably fix that. ASAP. If I screwed up at work, they’ll tell me that they know I work hard, but this time? I messed up. So instead of just being nice to myself this go around, I’m going to care about myself enough to use a little tough love too. I’m nice to people I don’t know all that well. Heck, I can even be nice to people I pretty much ignore. But those closest with me? I tell the truth, even if it isn’t always what they want to hear, but it’s done out of love.
So what does all of this tough love entail in my case? I am going to love myself right where I am, but that doesn’t mean I can’t push for improvements. I’m going to praise myself when I get all of those items on the to-do list done, but when I don’t, I’m going to be frank with myself and point out ways I could have maybe been a little more productive with my time (reading every blog on my blog roll and Googling last night’s Oscar winners maybe wasn’t that important). If I see a bad picture of myself while I’m going through Facebook (again, probably not productive), I’m going to remind myself that while yes, my eyes do look lovely in that picture (hey, I can be a little nice to myself in the process!), I probably haven’t been doing everything that I told myself I would. And same goes with skipping training. Yes, I do believe in listening to my body, but half the time when I say I feel burnt out, I’m really just a little tired and could easily push through. I need to remind myself of that.
So guess what? The excuses my family or best friends would raise an eyebrow at — or the ones I would give them a ‘really, now?’ for — aren’t going to work anymore. It’s not because I want to pick myself apart, but because I want to make myself the best that I can be in all areas of my life. And the other part of this is that I’m going to get the love I need from ME, not from an outside source, especially not one of the male persuasion. I’m not getting all man-hater on you, but I think I’ve being going about self love the wrong way. For years I’ve said, ‘If you can’t love yourself, it’s going to be pretty hard for someone else to,’ thinking that once me, myself, and I were on good terms, Prince Charming would come along and we’d live happily ever after. But now I know that loving myself has merit on its own — not because it’s a means to an end. I want to love myself just to love myself, not to make someone else love me too. That, my friends, is just going to happen when it’s supposed to.
I’m writing in another Penway composition notebook every day to keep tabs on how Operation Self Love is going. So far, so good, but we’re only about two weeks in. I’ll let you know. But what do you think? Does self love involve a little tough love? Or, for you, is it more about self acceptance right where you are? Are you having a love affair with you? Or are you still working on it like me? How did you get there or how are you getting there? Tell me! Spill!
Friday Food For Thought: On Beauty
Just a little something I thought I’d share.
‘You have forgotten that you are unique. In the history of the world, there will never be another you. So why are you trying to look like someone else?’
Happy Friday! Have a happy, healthy weekend!
HG Fitness Workout Jamz: Cardio
So last night as I was sweating away, doing my cardio (yeah, my Friday nights are super exciting), I was thinking about which music pumps me up to push another mile or another 5 minutes and why. And I must have been inspired by Angela and Bess because I wanted to share some of my workout tunes with you. Here are some of the songs that kept me moving yesterday when I almost skipped the gym:
This Keri Hilson song goes along with that whole vanity thing. But hey, I like being cute, which is one of the reasons I work out. The song’s a little cocky, but I love that about it. I also love that she doesn’t necessarily relate being ‘pretty’ with being a certain size (so many female artists do this, and it drives me nuts), and she tells all the ladies to do the ‘Pretty Girl Rock’ because we all should know we’re beautiful. Amen, girl. This song totally makes me do a little hip pop every now and then on the treadmill or elliptical. Good thing I go to the gym at off hours.
This song is NOT new, but it came on last night, and I was jamming at the gym. Again, such a good thing I go to the gym at weird times. I love JLo, her dancing, her gigantic fly girl hoops, her ridiculousness, and her confidence (mostly about her ridiculousness). And I can’t help but rock out to her stuff because she’s a fellow lady with a behind. I can’t help it! I totally have a girl crush on her — along with Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj, and Jessica Biel. I’m sensing a theme!
Just good for sprints or if you’re angry. Nothing else to say about it. This song never fails me.
Yes, I know she’s like 9. Yes, I’m completely serious. This one warrants a hip swivel (as long as I’m not running –disaster!) instead of a pop. You know what I mean.
This one makes me feel like a BA chick in a completely different way. Also good for sprints. Or imagining yourself wearing black eye liner, sneering, and strutting around with hair that belongs in a White Snake video.
For some reason, this song was my go-to running jam for a while (while I was still running a lot). I would turn it on for timed half miles, knowing that if I wasn’t almost done with 800m before Jeezy was done rapping, I had better pick up the pace. “No pain is forever. Yup, you know this” always pushed me on when I was thinking of how much I didn’t want to run that day. And this song still wakes me up every morning! (That’s more out of laziness though, since I just haven’t changed the CD in my alarm clock in a year. The ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ at the beginning apparently isn’t quite annoying enough yet.)
This one seriously makes me want to dance during cardio. And I am slowly revealing myself as that crazy person at the gym right now.
Speaking of the Gaga, this one is amazing for intervals. Stay steady on the verses and go all out on the choruses. I usually pick up the pace even more on the bridge.
Equal parts anger, defiance, and optimism. I like it. I feel a little invincible (maybe even… bulletproof?) when working out to this song. Get ‘em, girl.
You know what this sampling of my cardio tunes has shown me? a) That I totally know why people pick the treadmills farthest from me, b) that I’m all about the girl power (OK, like that’s a revelation), and c) that I need some new music since nothing on this list is even remotely new. (Still working on uploading some of the awesome suggestions I got a few weeks back!)
What tunes do you rock out to for cardio? Do you share any of my favorites? Do you think I desperately need to update my iPod? Spill!
On the Brink
So it’s New Year’s Eve, huh? As much as I’ve hyped this night up in past years, I’m kind of over it this year. Not in a totally jaded way, but more in ‘what will be will be’ way. You know?
I’m so ready for 2011 in so many ways. I’m ready for a fresh start. I’m not necessarily sad that 2010 is over.
Why is 2011 so exciting? I’ve got a lot of big goals, and they feel so much different than last year’s. I still have fitness goals, but I’ve got a lot of other goals that are aimed at making me a better-rounded person. So what do I want to accomplish this year? Here’s an overview for the year:
1) Own all of my decisions, opinions, and goals. I’m pretty outspoken, but sometimes I still act like my views aren’t valid or that I need to explain myself. I justify a lot instead of just stating that I’m doing something and going for it. Less explaining (unless someone asks) and more doing. I’m going to live my own life.
2) To compete in a figure competition. Yup. I want to be one of those crazies who loves being perpetually sore, gets pumped about going to the gym, and eats the exact same thing every single day — all for the end goal of being jacked (while still looking like a lady) and owning a pair of clear lucite heels. I actually already started on this one, and I am surprisingly in love with lifting the majority of the week.
3) Make my relationships and social life a priority. This might be a challenge to combine this #2, but I’ll make it work. This year was interesting as far as relationships went — and I mean all kinds of relationships. Working a lot made it hard to stay close to folks sometimes, or to be a good daughter and visit home as much as I should have, so I want to remedy those. My romantic life had its ups and downs (and there was a lot of good that I’ll never forget, so this is certainly not a sad thing), and I learned a lot about myself and about what I want, so I’m going to be up front about that the next time I date someone. Number one on the agenda for how to build and maintain relationships is accepting more social invitations instead of being lame and saying I’m tired. Because you never know who you’ll meet! I’m really taking this one to heart because I forgot how much I missed my friends and making new ones. So instead of staying in and cleaning my closet like I said I was going to do, I’m going to put on a party dress and have fun with one of my oldest friends.
4) Getting to where I want to be in my career. Whether this is striking out on my own more or building my side projects up a bit, I want to start heading in the right direction. The figure competition has a little bit to do with this, since I honestly know that if I look the part a little more, then people will take me seriously as a trainer. I know that I know my shiz, but hey, sometimes people do judge a book by its cover. I also want to continue my education (just registered for more ISSA online courses!), and to connect to my clients even more regarding their goals, strengths, and weaknesses. I know a lot of my clients really well, but I want to push them even more to achieve whatever they’re aiming for.
5) Become a better blogger and writer. Over at Hollaback Health, we all shared our blog resolutions, so if you’re super curious about mine, check it out. I just want my blog to look cleaner and I want to get organized when it comes to blogging. Not only because writing is a huge passion of mine (and the only way I’m actually using my degree), but because I’ve recently linked my business to it.
6) Get organized. I’m working on putting this into different categories (get it? GET IT?), so check back soon.
I’m going to break these down into month-by-month goals, but these are the big overarching themes of the year. While I do have a fitness goal, I’m pretty happy that I’ve got goals in a lot of other areas of my life as well. I feel like my life is on the upswing, and I’m excited about all of it, not just one small part of it.
Since we’re on the brink of the new year, I want to know: what are your goals for the year? (Or just the month if you’re working on baby steps here) Do you have any goals similar to mine? What’s the biggest area of your life you’d like to focus on? How do you plan to do it? And last, but not least, what are you doing tonight? Party dress or PJs? Both? Spill!
Merry Christmas to Me
Hi all! First, thank you so much for the music suggestions! I got pumped up enough to not completely slack at home. Second, I hope you had a fab Christmas if you celebrate it, and I hope Santa brought you everything you asked for! I got some new fitness swag and a heart rate monitor! In the past I was a little opposed to these suckers because I thought you should listen to your body during workouts and not rely on a little device to tell you how hard you’re working. I still sort of think this, but I did want to see what it was all about! I also was interested in checking out how many calories I was burning in my average workout. So far, I like it, but I think I need to adjust the settings because it told me I burned a ridic amount of calories for what I had done, and it told me my heart rate was super high, which is weird because my RHM is normally super low (as in, a few years ago my docs told me if it dropped anymore to call them because I might be dead. Don’t worry, it’s a little higher now so I’m alive and kickin’!). Oh well, that’s what instruction manuals are for!
Anyway, I also got a little something after the holidays when I returned to Chicago! Yesterday, I got a package from the Connecticut, and I thought, ‘Oooh, who do I know in CT?’ But then my thoughts turned crazy for about 30 seconds as I wondered, ‘OMG, who did I give my ADDRESS to in CT?! Who knows where I live!?!’
But then I opened it and realized it was my Hollaback gift exchange present from the lovely Angela over at A Healthy Fit! And, oh man, she nailed it! This was an awesome gift that included everything that I love!
Dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt (already half gone…), packets of Justin’s nut butters…
..and the best part of all…
'Because that ass needs a miracle'
‘Dieting with Jesus’ magnets!!
I seriously cracked up when I opened these! My favorite had to be the ‘Your body is a temple. Fill it with salad’ magnet, but every single one made me laugh. Although I am Catholic, I have a sense of humor about my faith. I think all of my people do. We’re kind of the fun-loving rascals of the Christian faith. At least that’s how I like to look at it.
Thank you so much, Angela! This was an awesome gift!
If you celebrate, how was your holiday? Highlights? (Mine were seeing my dad dressed up as Santa — again — and getting to spend time with all of my cousins.) If not, how was your weekend? Spill it! And if you’ve got exciting New Year’s Eve plans, tell us what you’re doing!
Monday Motivation: All in How You Say It
As a writer and an English major, I know that it’s not always just about what you say, but also about how you say it. I could tell my friend that the jacket she’s trying to wear out tonight is not such a good idea, OR I could ask her what else she was thinking about wearing and steer her in another direction. In both instances, I’m saying the same thing, but the second one probably won’t piss her off. I can do the same thing with my clients during workouts. I can tell them I’m about to bring the pain with Bulgarian split squats, or I can tell them that we’re going to get them looking good in their jeans with this exercise that’s really going to burn. I’m warning them about the difficulty of this next move in both cases, but in the latter I emphasize the positive and what it’s going to do for them.
Yesterday, as I was making my new vision board, I came across an interesting little blurb in an old Shape magazine that I was tearing pages out of. It said that in order to create a positive association with exercise, we need to start by turning our language around. For example, instead of declining a lunch invite by saying, “Oh, no, I can’t… I should get to the gym for that cardio hip hop class,” I can say, “Let’s reschedule! I want to hit up this class at my gym that I’ve been dying to try.” Or, instead of, “MAN, I have to do legs today,” I can say, “Ooooh, I get to do legs today! Let’s see who I can out-squat!”
I really do think there is something to changing up the way you talk about exercise, because recently I switched up my training plan, and started using ‘get to’ and ‘want to’ instead of less positive phrases, and now I’m excited about my workouts! I think, after reading that, I’m going to consciously cut out the negative words and replace them more often with words that make sweating sound pretty sweet.
Does how you talk about activities — especially those of the fitness variety — change how you think about them? When you say you ‘get to’ hit the treadmill, do you mean it? What other words and phrases make working out seem (even more!) fun? Spill!
