Do we celebrate the small victories as much as the big ones? I felt so accomplished yesterday knowing I had done the butte seven times or the equivalent of 14 miles. Today, however, when I ran, I didn’t have the same level of satisfaction. Today, I only did two times up the butte. Why did I stop after just two times? Because my body was telling me to stop. Yes, I know the quote, I’m sure I have even posted it before: If you train your mind, your body will follow. However, today I want to point out, that it was not my mind that was giving up. My body really was telling me to stop. I’m not going to lie. It was hard to stop. It was hard to not just do at least one more time up the butte, at least get in three times or the equivalent of six miles, but it was against my better judgement. I got to the bottom where normally I turn around to go back up, and I stopped, thought for a moment how much I wanted to do it just one more time, and then proceeded to head towards my car and call it a day. That was hard. The hard part, for those of us that like to do too much, is resting, when everything within us is saying, Go! I constantly tell my clients, Don’t over do it, and I need to be able to heed my own advice. It is not the quantity of exercise that makes our body better, but the quality of the exercises performed.
When you exercise, be mindful. If you have been doing a lot, and in my case I have, listen to those gentle nudges from the universe telling you it is time to take a break and rest. I don’t need a schedule that tells me “Rest Day,” I just need to listen to my body and my inner guidance that is always available giving me answers. When we don’t listen, when we go against our better judgement, often there is a period of regret. We exhaust ourselves, get injured or worse yet make ourselves sick. Our bodies are an intelligent system always telling us what is good for us if we will just listen. So today, I celebrate the small victory of not over doing it, and taking it easy when I am told to do so.
Love and Lunges,
Sara
www.realwomenhavemuscles.com