Your Inner Athlete: Fitness and Living Your Best Life (Part One)

I was never an athlete. Blame personality or physique or the slow-paced gym classes in school (really, square dancing?). Regardless, we’re raised to think people are either athletes or not. We are sporty or we’re artistic or we’re brainiacs or whatever. I didn’t know until I was almost thirty the horrific untruth that lies within those stereotypical presumptions.

I worked out on and off from my teen years and into my twenties. If I started to gain weight, I worked out to try to ward off the increasing size of my love handles. The treadmill at the gym was fine, and then working out became social so there were Zumba classes before a trip to Vegas and boot camps with a new boyfriend or anything that occupied my interest for a couple of months.

Two years ago I moved to New York, and sought out a workout I could afford on a more limited budget. Luckily, there was a track down the street in a public park – a free workout! Unluckily, running had always been one of my least favorite activities. “I’m not a runner,” I had said over and over throughout my life. Yet I was determined.

Starting at a slow pace, I jogged around the track a lap or two before my lungs gave out and I had to walk. Every day I did this again. My agreement with myself was that I could go as slow as I needed to, as long as I ran further than the day before. I was kind to myself and patient with my improvement. I think if I hadn’t been I would have become frustrated and quit.

There were tricks I invented to distract my doubting mind. I would picture clones of myself cheering me on. I would imagine achieving a different goal each lap. And wouldn’t you know, in less than three months I was able to run three miles – without walking at all – at a pace of nine minutes per mile.

This blew me away. It still does. I believed I wasn’t a runner. I thought it wasn’t in me. But none of that was ever true. After I broke that first huge barrier, there wasn’t much to stop me from breaking more. I returned to yoga class in order to do yoga instead of just to have social time with my friends. I tried things like spinning and TRX and barre class and weird tribal dance and Pilates and trapeze.

Although some activities I like more than others, I learned that the point isn’t what you do, it’s that you do it at all. My life has changed. The way I view challenges (I prefer them), the way I eat (aware), the friends I make (of strong character), every thing is decided upon through this new view of “does it reflect my best self?” or “Is this part of living my best life?”

We are all meant to be athletes. It’s part of being our best selves. It’s how we live our best lives. You don’t have to always like the activity or feel like doing it on any given day, but if you are to know the value of yourself, fitness is a vital part of the process. This isn’t about weight loss. It’s about strength, inside and out.

It’s time to meet your inner athlete.

photo credit