One of the biggest challenges of maintaining an effective fitness routine is consistently finding enough time for ourselves. There seem to be endless demands on our attention every day: meals need to be made, shopping needs to be done, the house needs to be tidied and clean, laundry that needs to be done, there’s a pile of work on our desk, calls that need to be returned, a seemingly bottomless email inbox, kids that need to be shuttled around, and an endless to-do list. Not only does it feel impossible to find time to take care of ourselves, often, it feels wrong: so much else needs to be done, carving out personal time seems like neglect.
When we think of taking care of ourselves as just another chore that needs to be ticked off each day, it’s easy to shrug it off from more pressing items. But making sure we’re eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep, and taking the time to relax every once in a while are all cornerstones of creating and supporting our well-being. These aren’t items to be ticked off a list, they are an investment. When we give ourselves the gift of our own time, we nurture the patience, strength, and inner peace we need to tackle everything else life throws at us. We support the inner conviction that we deserve all the good in life and we are more open to love: both from ourselves and others. Consistently making time for ourselves reorients our priorities and allows us to see what’s really important. We see the opportunities we’ve been missing to spend time with someone we care about. We have the presence to really hear what others have to say, and how they feel. We have the emotional resources to really connect with our loved ones and we know how to ask for what we need.
Simple fitness habits give us the energy we need to tackle the everyday demands that wear us down. Our stress hormones decrease and the happiness boosting hormones and neurotransmitters are increased. We sleep better and our memory is sharper. Our risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, stroke, arthritis, depression, and even some cancers drops dramatically. Our bodies stay younger and stronger longer and stave off the dependence and frailty we’ve come to associate with aging. In short, we stay more deeply plugged into life, longer. This vitality is at the heart of everything we feel we must do, and everything we may dream of doing.
Today, let me invite you to look at exercise, meal prep, and your self-care routines as a self-investment that you absolutely deserve. Take these things off your to-do list and make them a daily devotion. This time can be an act of gratitude for the strength that carries you through your day, that supports your relationships, that gives us the peace to notice the wonder around us. If your to-do list really is bottomless, if there is always something else you need to tend to, there’s no reason not to carve out the time and resources you need to care for yourself. If you know your circumstances are not going to magically line up, decide it’s worth doing even imperfectly. Fitness and well-being may be the magic you need to reorient yourself in your life, to enable you to see and discern between the demands that are truly important, and those things that no longer serve you but you feel obligated to keep up. When you give yourself your own time, care, and attention, you support the belief that you are worthy of happiness, peace, and health. Stop managing your life, and open the door to actually enjoying it. Life is beautiful, and you deserve to know it.
