Today, I learned something about myself and why I don't like to exercising. I've never liked it, and I probably never will. I know that exercise can actually be fun, and while that's all well and good I can't seem to get into the groove of really "liking" it. So, the question is WHY? Anyhow, today I was chatting with a co-worker and contemplating joining a walk/run group for women where (as I understand it), they meet at 5 a.m. for a 1 to 2 mile walk/run (they walk for two minutes, run for one minute, walk for two minutes, run for one minute and so on....). I said, well that doesn't sound so bad; but no sooner than I began to really consider doing it, I started to come up with ALL of the reasons why it would NOT work for me. For example... 5 a.m. is too early for me... I won't be able to keep up with everyone... my knees can't take it... I've never run before... etc. etc. And then the ANSWER hit me like a ton of bricks as I listened to myself. While I have a ton of confidence in virtually every area of my fabulous life, when it comes to exercise I'm actually afraid. I'm afraid that I won't be able to do it and that I will fail at it -- said another way, I just don't have confidence that I
can do it. I set good exercise goals, but I end up talking myself out of it every time. Here's an example... just yesterday, I programmed my treadmill for my 2-mile walk (see my goals); I hit the start button and jumped right on it. But, within the first three minutes of the program, my inner voice was already telling me that I can ONLY do one mile, not two. So, instead of focusing on my 2-mile goal program, I watched the ticker in anticipation of getting to one mile instead so I could stop. And that's exactly what I did-- I stopped as soon as I reached the one-mile mark. So where is my little engine that could? I'm looking for her, because I really need to build some confidence in my ability to exercise.