The fitness train has come to a bit of a stop lately.
My schedule’s been a little nuts, and I’ve had more dinner reviews than I’d like of late, which has been a major disruption in my post-work exercise routine. There’s also the fact that it’s so goddamn hot, especially in my apartment, that I kind of want to come home from work and just plonk down on the couch instead of engaging in any kind of physical activity.
A couple years ago, this would have been very disheartening news. I was pretty desperate to lose weight and keep a regular fitness routine to achieve that end. Any time things got to the point where my routine was interrupted, I just gave up. I’m not sure if that was due to the obsessive-compulsive part of my brain that decided anything less than a perfect schedule wasn’t worth keeping at all, or the lazy part of my brain that was just looking for any excuse to keep my ass in one place. In either case, it brought me back to being sedentary.
But I’ve learned from my mistakes and developed a new perspective on fitness. Treating fitness as a destination can make the tiniest pebble in the path seem like a steep mountain, which makes giving up all the easier. After all, if I haven’t even lost 2 pounds yet, how can I possibly hope to lose 15? That’s impossible. My gut’s smaller than before, but it’s still a gut, so what’s the point in pushing myself toward washboard abs? Guess I’d better resume my torrid love affair with the couch.
If instead you view fitness as the path, things get much easier. There’s no frustration about not reaching the end goal, because that’s not the point anymore. Every milestone becomes important, because it means you’re still moving along the path. There’s less inclination to stop because it’s a leisurely (or brisk) walk rather than a mad dash to an arbitrary finish line.
So the little setback that I’ve suffered recently? No big deal. I would ideally like to stick to a workout schedule of 5 days a week with two rest days thrown in, but another rest day or two won’t hurt. I’ll just work out when I can, keep to the schedule whenever possible and sprinkle in activity of some sort throughout the day.
I’d prefer to walk along the path with a smile on my face than sit down in frustration for not reaching my weight goal.