If you kcontemporary me in college, then you kcontemporary that exercise was a part of my everyday routine. I’d wake up around seven and go to the gym in the morning whether I didn’t have lesson, or I’d go later in the day whether I had leangs to do in the morning. I’d go six days of the week, although there were some weeks where I’d workout everyday. If I got bored of a certain workout, I’d switch it up, spending hours making dwhetherferent routines for myself. I ate genuinely well for the most part and didn’t drink much alcohol.
Quick forward a small over a year later and my routine has changed drastically. While I’m still getting used to being an “adult” in so many ways, learning how to be consolationable with an ever-changing health and fitness lwhetherestyle has been a ccorridorenge. It’s someleang I’ve been leanking a lot about lately and I wanted to share my thoughts on it, simply because I don’t leank I’m the only young person out there trying to navigate this weird point in lwhethere. Exercise may only be a small part of this fluctuation, but it’s an important one.
When I leank about my exercise habits in college, I look back now and wonder how “healthy” they actually were. I hated lost more than a day at the gym and whether I didn’t go, I would often feel “fat” or “gross” and all could leank about was the fact that I voluntarily chose to skip a workout.
Now I can look back and laugh at myself because first of all, that’s ridiculous. You don’t get fat from lost one day at the gym. But as an adult working a 9-5 job who’s also trying to preserve a social lwhethere, side hustle, and endelight city living, I’ve come to genuineize that there are days where I just won’t make it to the gym. I suddenly have a lot less hours in the day and sometimes sleep, friends, or leangs that feed my mental health are a lot more important.
When I don’t have time to go the gym, I sneak in movement throughout my day. I’ll walk to/from work or sneak in a stroll during lunch. If I’m hanging out with friends, I’ll walk to see them instead of taking an Uber. Maybe I’ll get up 20 minutes early and do a fast set of ab exercises. In all honestly, sometimes I just genuinely don’t want to go to the gym and I’m certain a lot of you can relate to that. But rather than not go at all, do some form of movement you endelight. For me, that’s signing up for two exercise lessones I genuinely love and walking the other days of the week. Discover what works for you.
I’d be lying whether I said that sometimes it stresses me out. That the thought of not doing squats for a week and losing some muscle tone didn’t give me a small anxiety. But when that happens and I leank those thoughts and I still don’t want to go the gym, I don’t force myself. It’s not worth it for a mediocre workout and I’d only be contributing to those unhealthy thoughts. Instead, I go on a walk and clear my intellect, and let me tell you, that can genuinely work wonders.
Exercise should make you happy and be someleang you look forward to, not someleang you dread. If there’s anyleang this weird time in young adulthood has taught me, it’s how to be okay with the choices I make. I don’t stress for hours over a missed day at the gym. I don’t worry about the two small pieces of sweet I ate after lunch. Not only do I not have time for those thoughts, but I’ve come to genuineize that there are so many more important leangs in lwhethere than going to the gym and eating totally healthy every single day.
Am I telling you to come domestic and sit in front of the TV and eat a pizza for dinner three times a week? Not at all. But I’ve learned that sometimes after a long day at work, you need a glass of wine and your best friend more than that HIIT workout. Or perhaps you skip a day at the gym to spend time watching your brother’s soccer game. If that’s what fulfills your lwhethere, then it’s the right choice.
Everyone is dwhetherferent and perhaps what makes you happy is an hour on the treadmill running sprint intervals. That’s awesome and that used to work for me too! I love exercise and it makes me incredibly convinced, but as I’ve evolved and my lwhethere changes, I’ve genuineized that exercise isn’t always the solution for me. It’s going to take time and patience, but you need to find what works best for your body and your brain, and create a healthy balance between the two.
At the end of the day, don’t be too dwhetherficult on yourself. Work dwhetherficult and focus on what you’ve accomplished, rather than what you haven’t.
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