THE KEY TO STICKING WITH YOUR EXERCISE ROUTINE

My workout sucked the other day.

I was tired, I didn’t want to do it, and I hated every second.

And I bet I know what you think I’m going to say next: That the WIN was doing it even though I didn’t want to.

I’m sorry, but you’re wrong.

The win was not ignoring my body’s signals and pushing through even though it sucked.

The win was knowing I had a choice about whether to do it, and feeling entirely free to NOT do it.

I didn’t feel that old, horrible pressure of having to white-knuckle it through something awful because the schedule said so or I was afraid of the scale. I wasn’t trying to beat my body into submission or earn the right to eat later.

I made a straightforward choice to give myself more energy, clearer thinking, and a happier heart. I was invested in making myself calm, joyful, and vibrant for the rest of the day. I was pulled into it by the positive outcomes.

I chose temporary discomfort in the moment so the rest of my day would be better.

But I didn’t have to. I absolutely could have said, “You know what, I just need to go back to bed,” or “I’m just gonna have another cup of coffee and relax today.”

And either of those would have been FINE choices. I would not have felt guilty. I would not have beaten myself up or gone into a shame spiral or let it make me anxious for the rest of the day (like I would have done for the first 30 years of my adult life).

My daily walk after my crappy workout

Creating a peaceful and sustainable relationship with exercise means giving yourself the flexibility to roll with life’s punches. Every day is not going to be the same. You’re not going to be able to stick to the plan every day. You’ve got work and kids and hormones and problems and life gets super lifey, so you certainly don’t need the added pressure of HAVING to exercise when it’s super hard.

Yes, creating an exercise routine takes discipline. You can’t just cut yourself ALL the slack every day. If you want to do it, you have to do it.

But discipline without flexibility and self-compassion guarantees failure.

You’ve got to know what the highest priority is each day. And sticking to your exercise routine might not be it.

And that’s ok.

Missing a day isn’t a failure – it’s a guarantee that you won’t give up even when you’ve got a lot of other stuff to deal with.

Love, Teddey