Situp thou hast felled me.

Why can I not create a habit of exercise?

This has been my prevailing thought since. . . . well, since . . . .I was going to say since my first child was born...but the truth is since I put on my swimsuit for the first time this year. I have talked to a few people about their exercise habits and, no surprise, no one really has a consistent exercise regime. In the past week I have even been considering joining a gym thinking that would increase my motivation.

Today I decided to search how to create an effective daily habit. I did get results for websites on how to create a daily habit of exercise but I also got websites for reflection, prayer, positive affirmations, breakfast, smoothies, gratitude, vitamins and the list goes on. It's good to know I'm not the only person struggling with creating habits!

A habit is by definition a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition. Therein lies my problem. Frequent repetition hasn't been in the cards where exercise is concerned. It's not that I can't achieve frequent repetition. I have no problem with these habits:

• swimming pool
• television
  
• blogger
• facebook
  
• snacking at 10pm

I wonder if I create a reward system if I could start doing those hated situps each day because clearly a possible thinner midsection is not an impetus. And gosh, if I succeed at situps who knows what I can achieve...positive affirmations, a cleaner house, daily reflection, world peace!

Pfft. If you have any suggestions.....

Resolution or Goal?

I think I may have been looking at this the wrong way. I read something this morning that got me thinking about the difference between goals and resolutions. The biggest difference is you achieve a goal and you keep a resolution. Understanding the difference will change how you approach the situation.

Some objectives are better characterized as resolutions, others, as goals. "Run in a marathon" or "Become fluent in Spanish" is a goal. It’s specific. It’s easy to tell when it has been achieved. Once you’ve done it, you’ve done it! "Write daily" or "Stop gossiping," or "Exercise" is better cast as a resolution. You won’t wake up one morning and find that you’ve achieved it. It’s something that you have to resolve to do, every day, forever. You’ll never be done with it.

It can be easy to get discouraged when you’re trying to hit a goal. What if it takes longer than you expected? What if it’s harder than you expected? And what happens once you’ve reached your goal? Say you’ve run the marathon. What now – do you stop exercising? Do you set a new goal?

With resolutions, the expectations are different and being discouraged can come easier and more frequent. Each day, I try to live up to my resolutions. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail. To not get discouraged I need to see each day as a clean slate and a fresh opportunity. I never expect to be done with my resolutions, so I try not to get discouraged when they stay challenging. Which they do.

For example, I made a resolution to practice an attitude of gratitude. Each day I have to re-commit to this resolution. It takes a lot of self-discipline to keep a resolution and to continue to commit day after day especially in the face of adversity or failure. I had a bad day yesterday. It is extremely difficult to be grateful all day when my day was consumed with laundry and errands and events at kids’ schools. So I failed. No problem. Today, I have a clean slate and the opportunity to improve.

What got me thinking about this is my resolution to blog. My mindset was that of it being a goal. I found myself feeling frustrated that I wasn’t achieving anything. There was no end. I was feeling discouraged. But now I have shifted my mindset. Writing needs to be a resolution for me. It needs to be something without end that I commit to accomplish each day.

Current resolutions - attitude of gratitude, blogging, exercise, weight control

Current goals - read Bible, learn to StandUp Paddleboard, take a photography class

Symptom surfing

I think I am anxious by nature. That is, I think my physiology makes me inclined to be an anxious worrier. So many times, my husband has said to me "just don't think about it". Yeah, if it were only that easy. I also believe experience has played its part. I have been afraid of death and dying since my dad died when I was 12. Then, when my mom was diagnosed with cancer 6 years ago my health concerns magnified. Every ache, pain, bump, lump, mole and freckle causes me to worry.

I have discovered that my worst response to this anxiety is symptom surfing. The internet is not the friend of an anxious worrier. When I google "weird hard lump on my hand" I don't focus on the multiple entries that says benign ganglion cyst. No, I keep reading until I find it could be cancer call your doctor right away! As many times as I have been to the doctor and been told I am completely healthy with a bit too much anxiety, I still worry about every little thing.

I want to overcome these worries and I don't think I need xanax or zoloft which seems to be the doctor's popular response. I have read that anxiety can be hormonal, biological, etc. The best response is healthy diet and regular exercise. So my question is "Why in the world do I continue to symptom surf instead of getting my butt out of this desk chair to exercise?"