Never take the gift of movement for granted!
We all do it. I think we like to think we don’t…but we do! Don’t take it personally!
It’s only when you can’t do something that your realise that you don’t much appreciate the things you can do on a day to day basis.
I am reminded of this whenever my lower back starts to play up. If you have had a bad back and have experienced a back spasm then you will know exactly what I mean…if you have not…then read on anyway, but think of something that maybe once stopped you from moving freely instead. If all you have had to contend with in your life is a stubbed toe or broken finger nail then thank your lucky stars and if you are not moving regularly, then consider this your first ‘death stare’ and have a goddamn word with yourself!
I love the fact I can get out of a chair when I choose, go out for a walk, try a run, attempt a press up, climb the stairs, or do a burpee (if my life depended on it, as I hate them!). The fact is, I could do them IF I wanted to.
This is very different to when I have a bad back episode and it literally takes me 40 minutes to get out of bed, another 20 to sit on the toilet and then Simon has to slowly put my knickers on.
This can go on for days at a time occasionally. The thought of sneezing frightens the shit out of me, just going over a bump in the road as a passenger, as there is no way I can drive, can send my back into spasm. It’s terrifying and debilitating.
Being able to get up and dress yourself before you hop skip and jump downstairs into your day feels like a distant memory. I always make a mental note to myself that when I recover I will never take the gift of movement for granted again.
I invariably do though, sometimes. A few months may pass and I am back to moving, walking, running, whatever I choose to do and sometimes, just sometimes I can hear that familiar Betty Bitch Voice…”I really cant be arsed working out today!”
I only need to remind myself of all that effort to just get off the toilet and I tell her to do one! (Most of the time…sometimes, she wins, as that is life, but more often than not, I just get it done.)
I find huge motivation in thinking of movement as a gift. A gift that is denied to some people. Just imagine not being able to move, through illness or injury. Not being able to get up and walk when you want or need to, not being able to nip upstairs, not being able to dance, or ride a bike. Yet so many people choose not to move their bodies on a regular basis.
I am not telling you this like the dinner ladies at school used to guilt trip you into eating your beige pie and chips and beige ‘frogs spawn’ telling you off for leaving any as there were all the starving children in Africa. That is not my intention anyway.
I am telling you because I honestly think a lot of people go through life, bitching and moaning about the effort it takes to move, making up excuses not to do it, blaming everyone and everything else because they then don’t have to take ownership of the slightly uncomfortable fact that they simply can’t be arsed.
I just want to remind you, if you do happen to fall into that camp. Don’t go getting all offended, just remember that you GET to choose, you GET to go out for a walk, you can CHOOSE to do that workout or not, you can DECIDE whether to get up early and walk a mile to the top of the hill and see the sunrise. You do not have to do any of these things of course, but that isn’t the point, the point is…YOU GET TO CHOOSE. Now imagine for one minute never having that choice….how much would you want it then? How much more appealing would it be to be able to do those things. You would probably think twice about complaining that you are tired, or that it is raining or that it is a Monday and you would just be grateful that you simply have a choice. When you appreciate movement for the gift that it is, that is when the ‘should’ or ‘need’ turns into a ‘want’, that is when you stop taking the gift of movement for granted. (Most of the time!)
The beauty of this is you start moving more, you make the effort to walk or do that fitness session, not because you think you should, but because you truly want to.
Try it for yourself, it feels great and there is no willpower needed!
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