Excuses

Time has become a precious commodity to me.

I remember a time when I could waste a weekend without a second thought because I knew the following week would be a steady mix of my highschool classes and some fun, after-school programs. My stress level was realistically about a 5 and at the time, I  felt like I could handle what was on my plate with ease.

These days, weeks fly by faster and months are gone in a flash. I still can't believe we're almost out of March now! I know that this is because I work full-time and my schedule has been an adjustment. It's been great to have a steady structure in my day, but like the rest of the rat race, I'm often itching for Friday to just 'hurry up and get here!' so I can catch my breath. I don't think I'm the only one who feels like this and it's not just limited to people who work. Stress and time management is a huge issue for people in University and College because your schedule is often so erratic and ever-changing that it can be hard to institute a routine. And if you have kids? Don't even get me started...

When the majority of your time is given to others, it's understandable that the last place you want to be is the gym. Let's be honest, no one really looks forward to going to the gym all the time, do they? For me, I usually hate the idea of it until I get there and then I start to get excited and pumped for my workout. But getting there is tough. No lie.

Now that I've started this process, I realize that I have to get my priorities straight. Work is absolutely important and I also happen to really love my job. However, it's not my top priority right now. When I think about what I want and what makes me happy, it's getting in shape and achieving this goal. Plain and simple.

Realizing this, I have started making some adjustments to my schedule and taking some control back. I have coordinated with my boss to take shorter lunch hours, 3 times/week, in order to take 2 longer lunch hours so I can go workout. I had tried going to the gym on my regular lunch hour and it was terrible---a 20 minute workout and I didn't even get to shower! Ew. So this was an easy fix to a problem...all I had to do was ask!

My point is, is that it's a start. I don't have any answers, but I can only share what's been working for me so far. If you are like me (or some of the other people I've been chatting with who read this blog) and fitness is really important to you, then make it a top priority. Look at what is stopping you and try to see if you can find a way to make some changes. My sister is a great example of this. She has a (beautiful, intellingent, amazing!) baby, Vince, but she has still managed to make it a priority. As anyone with kids knows, it's exhausting but she still manages to wake up at 5 a.m. to go workout. If that's not prioritizing, I don't know what is.

I'd love to hear from you to know what your obstacles are with getting in shape and how you manage to make it work. Everyone has unique struggles and I think it's really interesting to know how other people do it.

Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you. Please feel free to comment on my Facebook page "Iron and Asphalt"!


Happy training :)