Thursday, April 28, 2011

Day Nine ... Choosing Sides

I love to work out in the morning. I have the most energy in the morning and my mental faculties are at their most active. My husband prefers to workout at night because he isn't rushed or pressured by the need to get to work and out the door by a specific time. At night I want to unwind, not ramp myself up for serious activity. My husband likes to ease into the day slowly. The differences remind me of two different people getting into a cold pool. One puts their toe in first and then super slowly follows with the rest of their body until they've pretty much adjusted to the temperature. Me, well I'm the jump in and get it over with person.

Last night was gym night for us. We didn't get there until about 7:45 p.m. and by then I had nearly worked myself up in an emotional tsunami. Silently of course. With this newly developing awareness I am experiencing or cultivating however, I realized that I was choosing to look at this negatively and not positively. In most things you can find a positive and a negative side. The point being you'll find what you are looking for.

I've told my clients time and time again, you can talk yourself into a workout or out of a workout. It helps if you talk yourself into it, of course. And there I was talking myself out of it last night.

In spite of that, I went, powered through my intervals and did a conservative weight training attempt. I didn't try to force myself to do a full intensity workout, instead choosing to acknowledge this will take a little getting used to for me.

My internal dialog needed to be refined also. A very wise friend of mine, Emiliya, who is an amazing Life Coach in NY taught me something I have never forgotten. Sometimes I slip up and I catch it and correct it. During a phone call where I was listing my seemingly never ending list of "Need To's" she calmly and rationally pointed out that saying I need to do something makes it a chore and choosing the phrase "want to" makes it a choice. It empowers me and gives me control over my life and my schedule. It seems so simple, yet it really works.

Replacing I need to go to the gym and workout with I want to go to the gym with my husband and spend time together exercising made a big difference. I won't pretend I was filled with energy but the emotional tsunami was dissipated and I was pleased with myself when I left.


Choosing the positive side,
Nicola Byrne


Optimist: someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it's a cha-cha.
--Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

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