I love to exercise.
No, really.
I am not a fitness guru nor do I wear a size 2, but I’m strong and determined and love to move.
I entered a gym for the first time as a Freshman in college on the University of Arizona campus and have been intrigued by how the body and muscles works and how certain foods and my diet make me feel.
I love the physiology of exercise and how moving our bodies increase endorphins, adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin. Just a few of the cocktail of chemicals and hormones that are released in the body beautifully and naturally every time you exercise. There have been many times in my life when I have come to rely on exercise, instead of say, antidepressants or copious amounts of liquor. There is a strong link between exercise and happiness.
These days I spend more time walking or running along the beautiful Southern California coast, throughout my neighborhood or at a nearby nature center than I do in a gym. I almost always have a sleeping sidekick in a stroller. I’m careful to plan my walks around Lola’s nap time and “we” log anywhere between 12-15 miles per week. I will chat with Lola, call a friend, listen to This American Life or music or sometimes let the sound of my own breath center me. I let my mind wander and find an inner peace.
If I don’t get an hour or more of exercise time every day, I go nuts. Or I make the people around me nuts. It doesn’t always happen and I try not to beat myself up about it if it doesn’t.
One of the very best gifts I have ever received was a treadmill and I’ve been known to hop on it well after dark.
I exercise so that I can eat.
Like, really eat.
I exercise to think.
I exercise to challenge myself and push my limits. If I’m not walking, I’m struggling at the ballet barre, a class I am bound and determined to conquer or doing yoga.
Exercise is empowering It’s my “me time”, although I am seldom alone having pushed both Lucas and Lola for miles and miles or being pulled my Charlie Pasta, it is my time to pause and force everything else going on in my life aside and do something just for me.
Do you like to move? What is your exercise of choice?