Things I Want My Daughter To Know: Exercise

Do it for you.

Let me get one thing out of the way: exercise is tough. Not only is it tough physically, but it’s tough mentally. I say mentally because in our society, one tends to feel guilty when they miss a workout. This is ridiculous.

Exercise should be done for you, and no one else.

I hope that as you grow up you develop an understanding of the benefits of exercise, but also an affinity for exercising. What I don’t want you to do is fall in to the trap of thinking that if you exercise enough you will attain some body image that people think is beautiful. Chasing this image is an endless world of hurt. Everyone has a different definition of beauty.

Also, and I hate to break this to you, you might have a bit of an uphill battle as you’re not exactly inheriting Greek god-like genetics from me. Thankfully, a little bit of exercise will go a long way.

You don’t have to spend two hours in the gym every day to benefit from exercise. While that type of committment will certainly have an effect, simple activities like walking will do just fine. I like to run.

I began running in college, but for all the wrong reasons. I was trying to impress people by getting in shape. My motivation to exercise was all wrong. As such, it was extremely difficult to maintain motivation to exercise. I wasn’t getting the reward I had hoped for.

This is my point, exercise for the right reasons: to feel good, be healthy, have more energy, and maintain strong immunity. Don’t exercise to impress people. When you’re focused on what other’s think of you, it is difficult to understand how you feel about you.

2 Notes/ Hide

  1. bloodymaryjane reblogged this from erichurst
  2. erichurst posted this