At the corner of turning forty, I found myself at the last rest stop of a 66 mile bike race. Before settling back into my seat to finish the last 8 miles, I paused to think about how I got to this point in my health journey. Becoming an energized and fit mom was no easy feat, but the payoff was immeasurable.
As a busy working mom, I went from living a sedentary lifestyle to an energized one, feeling both mentally and physically strong by taking just one step – I said yes to going for a run around the neighborhood with my husband one afternoon.
That yes changed the trajectory of my health and my life forever. That one short run turned into another and then another until I was eventually able to run my first 5k race.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
Finishing that first race planted a seed of confidence in me that has grown steadily over time. I now have two half marathons and a 66-mile bike ride under my belt, and this fit mom is ready for more.
I want other moms to know that they can feel this way too. Becoming a fit mom can become your reality too.
It takes just one step to open that door to a healthier life, one that clears out the cobwebs of anxiety and fear and reveals what your mind and body are truly capable of doing.
As you consider what your one step towards a healthier life will be, here are a few pointers that have helped me on my journey to a more energized life.
Start with Why
It takes one step to start, but it takes an even stronger why to keep going.
In his book Grit and Grace, Tim McGraw talks of three qualities that are essential to staying committed to a fitness routine – Drive, Discipline, and Deep Focus. He defines drive as “the force of all your whys put together.”
He goes on to say, “there are your rational whys, the good reasons for taking care of your body…and then there is your non-rational, deeply personal why – your private passion about how you want to feel and who you want to be.”
The rational benefits of a healthy lifestyle are well-known – more energy, a sharpened mind, reduced stress…the list goes on. With so many benefits, why is that so many of us struggle to find and keep the momentum of a healthy lifestyle?
It’s because we don’t have a strong enough why, a fire inside us that tells us to step out of our comfort zone into a new and more energized lifestyle.
My why is “to strengthen and to serve.” I repeat this mantra when I take long runs. God has blessed me with a healthy body. I’m committed to taking care of it so that I can strengthen it and expand my capacity to serve others. My why expands beyond just me.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own. You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
Corinthians 6:19-20
Discover the why that touches the inner parts of your soul and use it to ignite you into becoming that fit mom who embraces a healthier and more energized lifestyle.
Build Self-Discipline
A strong why is meaningless if we don’t have the discipline to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This is where many of us struggle. We know exactly what we must do and why, but we just can’t seem to make it stick.
Self-Discipline is the glue. It means saying yes to the hard things and no to the things that feel good in the moment. It means getting up in the morning to take a walk or to run when all we want to do is stay in bed.
Tim McGraw points out that the key to discipline is creating a routine that is nonnegotiable. “It spares you decision fatigue and helps you stop wasting your time.” He goes on to say, “There’s so much mental energy you can put toward navigating the basics of a day before you get tapped out. That’s a big reason we get stuck or fail to keep up healthy habits -we get burned out from battling about them inside.”
Creating a routine takes the edge off hard choices. When we make the hard choices, we are making deposits into a future of long-term well-being. As we make hard choices over and over again, we expand and build our self-discipline muscle. It creates freedom and leaves nothing to chance. The payoff is immense.
Conquer Your Habits
Self-discipline is built upon a strong foundation of good habits over time. To build that foundation, we must excavate the bad habits first. Otherwise, the foundation will buckle and crack over time.
As many of us do, I sought comfort in bad habits and wasted precious time. Bad habits develop over time and get hardwired into our brains. We don’t think twice about grabbing a bag of chips to relieve stress or watching a late night show to numb the chatter in our minds.
The good news is that it’s never too late to make a change. I started by taking an inventory of all of the bad habits that were preventing me from achieving a healthy lifestyle – eating late night snacks, scrolling social media, watching television late at night, not having a regular bedtime, etc..
Then I developed a plan to attack each one, 30 days at a time. Part of that plan was replacing bad habits with good ones. For example, instead of reaching for a bowl of sugary cereal late at night and watching TV, I made myself a cup of tea and read a book in bed. Over time, I began to look forward to that warm cup of tea and a good book while the rest of the house was asleep.
Eliminating bad habits and replacing them with good ones takes time. There will be moments when you slip back into those bad habits. The key is to get back up after that, to not get sucked into the vortex of excuses.
Every time you fall, let the power of your why be stronger than the power of your excuses.
Start Today
I challenge you to take that one step towards living a healthier lifestyle and becoming a fit mom today. It can be as simple as taking a walk around the neighborhood.
Discover the why that gets you going and make the hard choices to keep you going. The future you is depending on it.
“For you created my inner most being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Psalm 139:13-14
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