November 15, 2020, 9:07am Sunday

This seems like such a silly thing to forget, but I did. Working out in general always seems like such a chore so it makes sense. I mean, I wish it was more like dancing when I was a little kid – I remember vividly, I would snap out of bed at 5 in the morning, just to tape my feet, put on my raggedy “dancing shoes” and head on out to jam out front under the street light… Oy. Clearly going off on a tangent. Let me see if I can bring it back…

The point is, now, because I don’t dance professionally and I’m not that kid any more, running, cycling, spinning, weights, Tabata – all of it is a chore. I hate it. But I do it anyways. It’s rare that I go two days without some sort of work-out happening.  It’s just like brushing my teeth, I do it because NOT doing it just feels wrong to me. That really is the truth. But wait, for the record, I brush my teeth daily, more than twice a day actually… again, friggin’ tangent…

For the past week and half or so, I’ve been out of commission.  A hamstring injury just knocked me out and I couldn’t really walk, let alone work-out.  Today was my first day out for a slow walk and wow…. I forgot…

I forgot that the best part of working out or just going for a walk – which is what I was doing today, really is MORE about the mental fitness than anything else at all. I mean, I walked slowly today and really took my time because my leg still hurt a tiny bit, but also because I’m just not ready for a full-on work-out and goodness….  My mind, my brain, I mean just all of my spirit was just so happy to be…  getting its exercise too.  I remember feeling like this as a dancer, as a kid… just in so much joy!

I think when we don’t do anything to exercise our heart muscle, maybe we don’t realize that it also effects our brain muscle too?  (I don’t know which word is right here, ‘affect’ or ‘effect’ – I googled, I’m still confused so…fudge it – uhem, tangent, again – uhem.). I’m not a psychiatrist or biologist or whatever brilliant scientific person you’d need to be to make the connection between why working out is so important to our brain function, but today I’m saying I felt it.  I’ve been really taking it easy and taking care of my leg by not moving around too much and today, just the mere walk around the block was mind–necessary and appreciated!  The simple act of focusing the mind on walking and being able to finally get back to it, no matter how slow, was mind–joyous! 

Maybe that’s why I’ve always worked out? Maybe without realizing it, working out is more for my head game than my physical body?  Wow. That feels like an epiphany. Hmmm. That’s kind of interesting. I’ll have to think on it some more… but yeah, I’m feeling good! 

Stay blessed and if you can, go for a walk today! 🙂

Carmen