My approach may feel too easy and gentle to have a chance of working. There is so much advice that suggests we have to be very strict and force ourselves into activity.
The only problem is that it doesn’t work! We don’t force ourselves, for good reasons. According to the latest data I read, only 20% of Americans exercise regularly.
Oh, that. Yes, that pesky little fact that all the advice in the world is of no benefit to your body if all you do is read it and think that you really should, really really should, I mean REALLY SHOULD follow it. Tomorrow. Any day now!
Unfortunately the well-intentioned expert advice has helped many of us see regular physical activity or exercise as major effort, struggle, strain, stress, trying, trying, trying to “be good” and “do what we should.”
Of course this doesn’t make us run for our sneakers! Too much sense of virtue or self-improvement, too much effort, can make the best of us resist the activity we know would be good self-care.
If you have tried shoulds, forcing, and effort and you’re still not an enthusiastic and consistent exerciser in some form, maybe it is time to try something different.
Experiment. Try being gentler with yourself, moving from kindness to yourself instead of from a place of self-attack, and see what happens. If you’re not exercising already on a consistent basis, you have nothing to lose! Why not give it a try?
