You Don't Have to Work Out
Really. You don’t. It might be wise to, sure. But to say you ‘have to’ [Squints] seems odd when you think about it… Why that choice of words? Obviously no one is going to say what they really mean which is “I feel strongly about the idea of benefiting from investing my time in a workout”. Instead, I might suggest starting with “I want to want to workout”. I didn’t stutter! You may not genuinely want to work out [yet ;)], but you do WANT to want to right? And that’s a start! You recognize a few benefits to working out; you just haven’t gotten to that point of automatic-subconscious-inside-your-bones-knowledge that says “working=good idea because health>everything”.
But at least we’ve removed the restrictions of ‘have to’, because things you have to do aren’t associated with very much joy, engagement, excellence, possibility, creativity. Does going to the bathroom, finding shelter or clean water scream excitement? No, but I promise everything else can feel good to some degree. Even running out to get more diapers could feel something like “man I’m gunna take care of this baby because I love it and I get to listen to jam in the car and stretch my legs yadda yadda”. So yes because even the things you feel very obligated to do (like cook for your family or go to a birthday party) IS choice.
Why do we rob ourselves of the choice?! There are probably many reasons, but it just seems socially fashionable to be tied to all these responsibilities. We all do it to some degree; seems like the culture right now. It’s similar to why it’s popular to be ‘on the grind’ in fitness, which implies that it’s a horrible self-torture experience. I don’t understand it. As if it’s somehow glorious to turn an enjoyable activity into self-flagellation. Maybe the rationale is this: The less fun something is that I force myself to do, the more will power I have. Tangent over. There are always times when the first 5 minutes of the workout is pure resistance and grit, but after that things get going. If they don’t, then you are likely to do more harm than good that day, you still earned a gold star for trying.
Bottom line is that choosing things is more f’ing fun! Choosing gives respect and dignity to the chooser. Denying yourself a choice turns you into a slave, and a slave has to give up their dignity by definition. There’s always a choice, so don’t choose to be a slave to your to-do list.
It’s a great day when you make a list of things you freely choose to do. Life gets breathed back into activities we previously dragged ourselves through. Construct a life that you want. Escape the prison of need to need to have to have to.
What is your experience on this? Leave a comment for the glory of knowledge!