The way we conceptualize any aspect of our life, has a great impact on the way we manage and experience it, health and fitness included. The path to a fit and healthy lifestyle has been a long one for me, as it is for many people. Along the way, one of the most important lessons I have learned is that to achieve optimal fitness, it is not only necessary to change one's behavior, but also to adopt an effective idea of what being 'fit' really is.
Initially, I approached the challenge of attaining fitness with a dysfunctional perspective; one I believe many people are applying, who meet failure and frustration in this endeavor, time and time again. I saw exercise as a chore, something that I had to awkwardly wedge in between the things I really wanted to do. I found it unpleasant, an uncomfortable task that I had to force upon myself just because I figured I probably should. This is, undoubtedly, the wrong way to approach the challenge.
"This is my unhealthy life, I will insert episodes of fitness as a remedy"
For anybody applying this notion to the challenge of health and fitness, the task will be massive, and their goals will be needlessly difficult to attain. So long as we think of exercise and healthy eating as inconvenient intrusions into our life - we will encounter great difficulty.
Eventually it became quite clear to me, that to meet this challenge, I had to change the way I understood exercise and healthy eating. I could no longer think of these behaviors as awkward and inconvenient treatments for an unhealthy life. Instead, I came to adopt healthy behavior as a lifestyle, as something that defined who I was - rather than something that encroached on who I was.
The way I now think of health and fitness can now be represented by the following:
"I chose a life of fitness, and so fitness is part of who I am"
Once we apply this conceptualization of health and fitness, exercise and healthy eating will - in time - transform from something irritating and foreign to something we enjoy, and something that defines who we are. These days, I have no need to cram exercise in between the things I really like doing, because it's part of my life, and it is one of the things I really like to do.
This shift in perspective has lead to massive positive change in my life, and for anyone who finds themselves in the pursuit of health and fitness, but grows tired of 'finding time' for exercise and healthy eating: step back, consider how much it all means to you.
Let go of the idea of fitness as a chore - adopt it as a lifestyle instead. You will enjoy the journey twice as much, and it will bring you twice as far.
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