Earlier in March, I was reading Shape magazine and one of the articles made me really think. The article talked about kids always moving and being active but at some point, we stop moving. It might be when we're adults, preteens or teens. The article made the statement that we need to figure out why stopped and then we go forward with our fitness goals. This statement stayed with me. I had been an active child, attending dance lessons once a week in addition to running around the farm and playing on our swing set and later riding horses. I did a lot of thinking. Why did I stop? I had always enjoyed being active. What made me stop? It finally hit me. I stopped when being active was no longer fun. In seventh grade, I quit dance to participate in sports. I didn't have the natural sports ability that I had with dance. As a result, I was placed on the D team for volleyball (we always played last), sat on the bench for most basketball games and really, really hated track. I went out for only volleyball in eighth grade and then nothing in high school. Being active was no longer fun. I did ride horses on our farm and was very good at it until my horse went wild while I was riding him and bucked me off. After an ambulance ride to the hospital, my only injuries were a jammed hip and a slightly scratched up face. (I landed on my hands and knees and somewhat my face on hard gravel.) I still loved horses but now I was afraid. (Please no helpful advice about how I should have gotten right back on. I know that and I regret letting my fear hold me back from an activity I truly loved.) So what does all of this mean now? I need to find ways to make fitness and being healthy fun. It's the only way I'll stick with it. I had always enjoyed walking, which is why I made it one of my early goals. Yoga is an activity I enjoy. It's even better when done with a friend so I plan to do that at least once a month. (Yoga is also good for me because it's low impact. The high impact activities seem to aggravate my hip and knee.) Later, I'd love to incorporate some kind of dance or aerobics into my fitness routine. It might need to be years down the road. I don't have a ton of free time to devote to a fitness class right now. Currently I squeeze fitness in when I have a free moment, which isn't always the same time every day. Katherine mentioned needing to learn to jump rope. My immediate thought was we need to get jump ropes for her and me. I plan to continue to look for ways to make fitness fun.
April's Health Goal: eat a salad everyday with lunch (this can be a large salad as my lunch or a small side salad)
March's Score Card: For the most part, I did OK with my goals in March. I created a simple chart to track my progress with my goals. This way I can't fool myself into thinking I'm doing better than I actually am. I still struggle with drinking enough water. Most of my goals I hit practically every day. A few times I walked longer than 10 minutes because I had missed the day before. Overall I'm happy with how things are going.
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