Imagine this: You’re in line at the grocery store behind this mad, coupon-carrying woman who is arguing with the cashier who is insisting one of the coupons has expired while simultaneously and oh so surreptitiously checking their phone for a… yup, there it is, a text, aaaaaaaaaannd… there they go texting back while the upset woman continues to fume and then asks for the manager because if the already inexpensive can of Spam isn’t marked down as stated in the weekly flyer then she refuses to purchase them, all 10 of them, and wants them off her receipt. Here enters the clueless manager who doesn’t seem even vaguely familiar with this weekly flyer thing and has to be shown where the coupon exists, or existed.
As this display of incompetency plays out before your unwilling self, you in fact are mere seconds away from losing your sh*t because you’ve read all the headlines on all the celebrity mags and are now flipping through the Soap Opera Digest only to find out that Bo has amnesia again and Hope is married to Bo’s twin brother but doesn’t know it.
Are you surrounded by stupidity you wonder?
It’s at this moment you need to take a deep breath and tell yourself… it’s only temporary. Breath in, breath out. You know that in a few short minutes you will be walking your sweet ass outta that grungy establishment and will be back in your own little happy world where there are no coupons for Spam… in fact, Spam doesn’t even exist in your world (it’s your world, you can make your own rules). Every thing is in it’s proper place and once again you’re back to neutral.
So how does this relate to fitness?
It’s only temporary. (This is your new mantra.)
Those squat thrusts you hate to do… only temporary. That ‘clinging to life’s last breath’ feeling you get after a boot camp class… temporary. Even that burdensome feeling you get before you even put on your gym clothes… you know it, temporary.
If you think like this, your fitness mountain just got a whole lot easier to climb. Yea, going for a run might be the last thing you feel like doing and I’m sure you could easily think of 20 other things you could do instead, but the run isn’t going to take you all day. 30 minutes to maybe an hour and 30, whatever your level is, it’s within your reach and the best part is… it’s only temporary. Do it. It’s done. Move on with your day. And feel good about it because the benefits of good, solid physical activity are long-lasting and will get you through life feeling healthier and happier. After all, life itself is only temporary, so make the most of 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.
