I find myself saying this to my five-year old niece as I’m pulling up on these tiny little pink ballerina tights that refuse to pass over her heel as she asks why she has to wear them since they hurt her feet when she dances.
I hate hearing that. But unfortunately it’s so true. Giving presentations and standing up before a roomful of people, all eyes on you; my heart is leaping out of my chest before I even stand up. But I got to do it. And she’s got to wear the tights to be a ballerina. Everyone does it at one point or another.
So how do we get past not wanting to do it to wanting to do it?
Unfortunately the answer is to just keep at it, doing it over and over and over until you no longer dread it, hate it, or despise it. Until all that wasted energy of not wanting to do it turns into positive energy and you actually look forward to it. (Well, at least you’re not coming up with every excuse imaginable to avoid doing it.)
Where am I going with this? Well the obvious fitness angle here is fitness itself. People want to be in shape, but they don’t want to put the time in to get fit. Every excuse comes out of their mouths… I’m swamped at work and by the time I come home, I have no energy… My only spare time is on the weekends and I spend all that time with my kids… and blah blah blah it goes on and on.
Ok, some excuses are justified, but we all have to do things we don’t want to sometimes, so you must force yourself to schedule in the time. 20 minutes here, 15 there, 30 over here… it all adds up and the benefits are enormous!
Try, for one week, to plan in fitness for a total of two hours over the whole week. That’s not even 20 minutes a day. Write it in your schedule and plan on following through, no matter what. The more you do it the easier it will get, I promise.
If anything, do it just because you don’t want to do it!
Anne Marie Costanzo is a nationally certified personal trainer and owner of Little Black Dress Personal Training. She can be reached at am@littleblackdresspt.com or (914) 841-1121.
