Do you think you should exercise more?
After all, you’re a parent now. Taking care of yourself is so much more important…
You want to be able to toss your toddler over your head without worrying about injuring your back.
You want to live a long, active life so you can play pickup games when your kids are in high school and go on long walks someday with your grandkids.
You want to model healthy living for your kids.
And — let’s be honest — you could probably stand to lose a few pounds too, right?
Feeling motivated to hop on a treadmill yet? I didn’t think so.
Here’s the thing– when we talk about living healthy, we usually focus on the “big-picture” benefits. And sure, eventually regular exercise might mean a better overall quality of life or a more sculpted body.
But the choice to exercise isn’t made in the long term. It’s made now, in the short term. And usually, making time for exercise means skimping on something else — like sleep or work or cooking dinner. Which means if you want to make exercise a priority, you need a short-term benefit.
You don’t need a reason to do it someday — you need a reason to do it now.
For most of my life, I’ve avoided exercising.
I enjoy walking to the park with my kids or hiking up a mountain with friends, but running for its own sake (not because I’m in a hurry to get somewhere)? Biking just for the fun of it? Forget about it.
I simply never had time for that kind of thing — and that was before I had kids.
After I had kids, of course, exercising was pretty much the last item on my to-do list, somewhere below playing trains with my toddler, eating and sleeping.
But recently, all that changed — and I’ve discovered a value in exercise that I never expected.
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