A Daily Guide to Wellness
According to a 2023 CDC report, only 28% of American adults get enough exercise. Despite commercial slogans, the recommended activity in a week, prescribed minutes in a day, steps recorded on an app, we remain challenged with achieving the activity recommendations put forth by the Department of Health and Human Services. We, and by we I mean 72% of us, are labeled as lazy, unmotivated, lacking in willpower and not committed to our goals. We are sold gym memberships, equipment for our home, watches to wear, yet we are still not accomplishing enough. I pause and wonder, is it our “enoughness” that is the core issue at hand?
What if our “enoughness” was not based on external rewards- like a happier provider, or an app that says “Hurray, you did it” or “You’re behind from last week, keep going” What if our sense of worth was not tied up with exercise and the way we look? This approach is not showing sustainability for the majority. Being praised for doing well or ostracized for not getting it done does not have the staying power and shuts us down from achieving what we desire. Let us try looking within ourselves for what we seek because I am here to tell you that you are enough NOW.
For most of us, we were born into this world moving our bodies. No one had to tell us how much or how long, we just did it and we did so with pure glee. We wiggled, we jiggled, we ran and we climbed. We had fun! What has shifted? Perhaps somewhere along the line we became body conscious, or we were ridiculed, shamed or always picked last. There are many who have dreadful memories around gym class-need I remind you of the experience surrounding the presidential fitness test? These are just some of the traumatic memories that being told to exercise can trigger.
Somewhere in our lived experience, things unfortunately transitioned, and we began performing exercise for others instead of what felt right for ourselves. We began working on our bodies instead of with our bodies. The joy diminished and rigidity, monotony and perfectionism took its place. It also became a means to an end: Exercise will bring me weight loss, health (that which can never be promised), it will balance my blood sugar, provide connection, a superb body, acceptance, love.
It is time to look at movement from a different perspective. First and foremost, we need to reconnect, like two companions that have drifted apart, our mind and our body. If we listen, what brings our body joy? Does she/he/they like to dance, stretch, hike, swim, punch, stomp or kick? Does it like to be in nature? When our body asks to rest on a particular day, do we acknowledge and honor its needs without guilt or shame? Do we notice anything happening within, when we move our bodies? Does our mood shift? Do we sleep better? Do we feel less pain in our joints? Do we feel more flexible? Do we stop when our body says that’s enough for today? In other words, do we honor our body’s needs by mindfully reconnecting to it and giving it what it asks for? These are the reasons to bring movement back into our lives. Not for others, for ourselves.
If there was no other reason to move but to feel joy and satisfaction, what would you do?
Disclaimer: I want to acknowledge the privilege it is to move and that not everyone is able to do so for numerous reasons such as chronic conditions, varying abilities, pain, etc. Physical movement is not something that defines your worth and having limitations to movement does not lessen the greatness of who you are in this world.
