What inspires you?
I get inspired by a lot of things for different reasons. Fresh produce inspires me to cook, seeing the way things grow inspires me to garden, reaching a student inspires me to go to work every day (that and the beautiful little thing we call a paycheck), beautiful artwork inspires me to decorate my house, my husband inspires me to love, my friends inspire me to be a better and stronger woman. So if I'm so easily inspired, why in the hell can't I get inspired to work out? Why?
Put a task in front of me at work and I give it 1000 percent. Challenge me to find a way to make a healthy dish taste sinful, well, you can check out my published cookbooks at the library (or buy them!). Can't figure out how to solve a problem, send it my way and I'll likely have it fixed within the day. So why? Why is working out so hard for me to conquer? Why would I rather come home and veg out with a book or a favorite TV show than go for a run or a bike or a swim? The weather is perfect. I'm getting in better shape so it's not quite as difficult as it was before. I enjoy being outside. I love being in the water. Why is it so hard? Am I just lazy? I don't think I am. I can work circles around most people. I really don't have an answer.
So as I was writing this, I was reading it over and I got annoyed at myself. So I just went and worked out. 1.75 miles on the treadmill. There's my inspiration. Stop whining and just go do it. It doesn't always have to be fun, or rewarding. It just has to get done. Just like the dishes, just like that report you don't feel like writing, just like taking the train to work. You just have to do it. I just have to do it. So, I did it. And will again tomorrow.
Side note, I signed up for a 5K on July 8 in my town during the town's summer festival. And I'm actually looking forward to doing it. How inspiring!
Hi Jen,
ReplyDeleteThe bit of your post tri blog that we are publishing isn't about being inspired. When you put your foot in the road after you passed us at the one mile mark you were not inspired. You had a goal - a purpose and you were committed to finish it regardless of your feeling.
That the deal - the secret. It's easy to do when we are " inspired". Any thing is easy to do when we "feel like it". The really hard work is to just show up and do it regardless of how we feel.
Like you just did.
love,
Peg
Jen - thanks for articulating so clearly one of the things I have been struggling with. I'm known as the "go to person" when a job needs to be done at work but getting my butt off the couch to run or walk or bike seems like a herculean task. Thanks for the pep talk!
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