Using Exercise as Self-Care – My Love-Hate Relationship with Working Out

If there’s one thing that most people can agree on, it’s that exercise is a chore. Most people DO NOT like exercise. The running, the heavy breathing, the sweating…it’s a lot. And for women and moms especially, finding the time to exercise is a task all on it’s own. How do you find the time to workout when there are a million other things on your to-do list? I use to feel this way about working out too until I changed my outlook on exercise. By looking at exercise as a form of self-care, I’m more committed to keep going.

Now, don’t get my wrong, I still am not 100% on the working out train. There are many days and weeks where I don’t do anything. And most of the time, I feel guilty about that. Because for me, exercise is more than just hitting a number on a scale or how my clothes fit. I have a family history of things like diabetes and high cholesterol that I don’t want to be affected by. If you’ve been a reader for a while, you know that my dad actually passed away from complications of his diabetes.

So I ultimately had to change my mindset about what working out means. Most days, I struggle to get in exercise, but once I actually get to it, I end up feeling amazing. My main exercise of choice is running. Running allows me to lose myself in my thoughts, forget about my to-do list and focus on the sound of the music, my feet hitting the pavement, and my breathing. I use to be someone who despised running and I still am not a fan of treadmill running, but when I’m outside, I feel rejuvenated.

What it ultimately comes down to is that exercising, for me, allows me time to myself. It gives me something to do that is not only helping me get and stay healthy, but it’s also allowing me time to let go of my responsibilities for an hour a day. There are many forms of self-care. I have wine night with my girls, soak in my bathtub, and try to read my books and magazines. Putting exercise on that list has helped me to reevaluate what self-care means. Yes, it’s about having time to myself. But it’s also exactly what it says…taking care of myself.