Me and My Health Club.. Not So Much

This is the ultimate "Remember What You Know" post.  The irony is not lost on me that the title on my blog is living out loud today.  Why can't I remember what I know?  What keeps me from knowing deep down inside the most important stuff?  Why can't I remember how good I feel when I actually get out and move my body.. these aging, worn out bones.  Seriously.  What is the deal??

Let's take this story back about 5 months.   That would coincide with the beginning of the endless winter that those of us in New England have endured. The snow began to fly early and just simply did not let up.  The drifts outside my house in Vermont are still about 5 feet high. For some weeks, I chided my fellow New Englanders for complaining about the snow and the cold.  "Buck up", I said.  We chose to live here.  So let's get out and enjoy it.   But let's face it.  It's really hard to get out and enjoy this part of the world when the temperature hovers below zero and the snow does not let up. I must acknowledge that there are the young and energetic and hearty folks who are not deterred, who are out there no matter the weather.  But there are also lots of us who are more easily put off.

This post was inspired by a visit to my health club today where I actually exercised.  Can you hear the virtuous tone in my voice?  I actually exercised!  I got in the pool which is my exercise of choice and I stretched and panted and did my thing.   I had threatened to do this multiple times over the last month or so but every time, I found some way to talk myself out of it.  How lame is that?  What is my problem?    How can I leave my office with the conviction to head straight to the health club and then simply turn off the road at my usual exit to my apartment.  Somehow the promise of a glass of wine and some mindless, dumb TV show seems to trump my original plan.

This voice, by the way,  is probably the same voice that lets me down when I am trying to give up sugar or stop drinking diet coke.  This is a voice known to many of us.  But sometimes, the benefits are not as obvious.  I mean, I really love the refreshing taste of a diet coke in the afternoon when my energy flags.  So giving it up feels like something that is probably good for me but the benefits are a bit invisible.

Not so with working out.  The benefits are so immediate and so startling that I can't understand how I can talk myself out of it.  Believe me, I will talk myself out of it again and again.  I will put it off and rationalize why something else is more important. I will choose sloth and wine and stupid TV.

But I do yearn to find the secret to keep myself motivated.  To keep myself moving.  I am encouraged with the change in season as that does add a spring to my step. I know that in the summer, I do move more.  I love the pool, the pond, the ocean.  I love walking in the woods and working in the garden. It's the long, cold winter that conspires against me.

I admire those friends in my life who have found the discipline and the motivation to keep moving, no matter what else is going on.  My hat is off to you.  I celebrate your resolve and your conviction.  Feel free to share your secrets with me.  Perhaps we can walk together or swim together,  or maybe we can just spend a quiet evening drinking wine and talking about how good we feel when we move.  That works too.