For me being active is like meditation, a daily ritual that keeps me sane amid the chaos of my life. Without it I feel weak, lethargic and a little depressed.
This very much holds true for me. There was a period of time a few months ago where the gym I was going to closed for renovations. I thought I could keep up with my activity at home. I planned on running, doing FitStar or Yoga from my phone, and doing kettle bell work. For the most part I stuck with this. But only in a certain sense. Yes I was going for runs. But not as hard as I should have. Yes, I was doing FitStar, but wasn't getting my heart rate up enough. I slacked on the kettle bell work. None of this had me lifting heavy or getting my hear rate through the roof. (I need both of these for stress relief)
It eventually had an effect on me. I became more stressed and depressed. It was harder to get up for my early alarm to try to be active before work. (I can't work out after work. I either don't have time, am exhausted, or want to go spend time with my family or TV).
I should have seen this coming. I wish I had but I didn't.
Part of this is the social aspect of the gym. I've been training with the same group of people for almost 6 years. Seeing them in the morning and shooting the shit is a strong part of my week. We've become close friends. Having that missing also contributed to my negative mood
After a while I stared realizing that our gym wasn't going to reopen. That I was using that as an excuse to not find a new gym. We had talked about it but were all lethargic about pulling the trigger. One weekend I couldn't take it anymore. "I need to lift something". I texted a few people and we did a drop in at a new gym that Monday. The facility is ok, the people are great, and the programming is fantastic. We've re-upped our membership and I'm very happy to be pushing myself again
Paternity leave threw a little bit of a wrench into this. I knew it was coming and knew I would have to find a gym close to home. (I train in the city near where I work). I found one close by. It's not one I would join full time, but it's great for a stop gap during leave/vacation or the odd weekend. I've only gone once a week (setting an alarm with a new born is risky. Yes I acknowledge that I'm using that as an excuse and should have sucked it up a lot more). I've also been running and last week did the first longer run in over a year. I'm in week 4 and I'm starting to feel like I really, really need to lift something. But, next week I'm back in the saddle with work, and will be re-joining my friends at our new gym
Giving up on something you have previously committed to isn’t an easy thing to do. It can feel like failure or defeat. But sometimes giving up your goal is the smartest thing to do. Sometimes the cost of achieving it isn’t worth the price of admission.
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