A lot of ex-athletes struggle to exercise. Let's face it, the glory days are behind us, so why bother right? Well, the glory days may be behind you, but your LIFE is ahead of you and that is worth exercising for. Talk to someone that has been diagnosed with cancer, suffered a heart attack, or given themselves shots of insulin every day for the last year, and they will all tell you that it is SOO worth it to exercise for your life.
Still, ex-athletes struggle to exercise. You don't have the time you used to, you don't get the results you used to, and you don't have the body you used to. This leads to disappointment and frustration. Not to mention that you have a family, a mortgage, and a million commitments to keep up with. You stop exercising for a day, and it turns into a week and then a year. How can you fix this?
Meet Yourself Where You Are Today
There was a time in my life where I could cruise through mile after mile of running at 6:00 minute pace, with no pain. Yesterday, I went running and I was not cruising, I was trying hard, and I ran only 3 miles at 8:30 pace. There are two possible reactions I could have had to this. I could have been extremely frustrated that my pace was so much slower than what it used to be. I used to react like this, but all it did was cause me to hate running and exercising altogether. Instead, when I finished my run and saw that I ran 8:30 pace I was excited. I had run 3 miles with NO pain, which is huge for me. (I have a lot of aches and pains from my glory days). I was also excited because it was the fastest and farthest I had run since I started running again. On my next run, I hope to run 3 miles faster than 8:30 pace. Even if I run 8:29 pace I'll still celebrate that victory.
So, how did I get from the attitude of frustration over not being able to run like I used to, to the attitude of victory over running much slower? I wake up everyday and I meet myself where I am that day. You have to stop wasting your time looking back on how it used to be. The reason ex-athletes stop exercising and get very unhealthy is because they can't stop looking back at their prime. If you haven't exercised in a year, meet yourself there today. Acknowledge where you are NOW, and then work to improve it. Don't just jump in a expect to be where you were at your prime. Every five years my dad "erases" all of his exercising accolades and starts over from scratch. He told me he does this so that he can continue to compete with himself realistically. He can't expect his 40 year old body to still compete with his 35 year old body, and he can't expect his 50 year old body to compete with his 45 year old body. Instead, he meets himself where he is at that moment, and goes from there.
No matter where you are today, whether you're 100 pounds overweight, haven't exercised in 5 years, or have been diagnosed with diabetes, I hope that you will look in the mirror tonight and meet yourself where you are right now, so that you can start exercising again.
Part 2 of this blog will be up next Tuesday, so make sure to check back then. If you have more questions, please visit my website www.abbyshroka.com I also just got a twitter account @Abby_Shroka so follow me if you're interested in getting daily health tips.
Wishing you all health, hope, & happiness
Abby
Excellent post! I'm impressed you can run an 8:30 mile, let alone that you ever ran a 6 minute mile. But you are so right--we MUST meet ourselves right where we are or we will never be content with ourselves, and it could mean we just give up altogether. Thank God I don't worry about my pace--I just ran my first marathon at a pace of 11:24 per mile. I could be sad about that, but I think instead that I finished! And that's what is important to me. :-)
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