Are you wanting to participate in Active Every Day, but aren’t sure where to start? You don’t have to be a runner, a cyclist, have a gym membership, or be a superstar athlete of any kind. It’s simply about being a little bit more active than usual for YOU.
This post from last August gives you some great ideas on how to add a little bit of extra movement to your day.
If everything counted, what would you do?
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One of the secrets of making changes that stick, is starting so small that you don’t wake up the Chicken Little part of your brain. It’s that idea of setting yourself up for success, because even the tiniest of successes are encouraging.
Yes I know, there’s also the hard part of starting small. You want to make a change now dammit! And that tiny step is still So. Far. Away. from what it is you really want.
I’m asking you to trust me on this.
At a minimum, you’ll get at least that tiny step closer (which you aren’t doing now) and, the much more likely scenario, it’s just the first step to getting what you really want. And, that’s the idea behind Happy Changes: A list of tiny things you can experiment with over the next week. And beyond.
Choose one of these things, one that feels completely and utterly doable to you, even if you aren’t sure it will make a difference, and play with it this week. Let me know how it goes here, in the comments, on twitter (using the hashtag #ActiveEveryDay) or Facebook.
Happy Moving
And by moving I mean your body, not your house. Although I have some thoughts about that too. But I’ll save them for another time.
First off, I’ve discovered that what I call this moving of my body, makes a big difference to me. Some people call it exercise or working out. I sometimes call it training, but mostly, I just like to think about it as moving.
And now, after two weeks of rest, it’s time for me to ease back into some gentle moving of my body. After all, that marathon is just two months away. But, I know I need to go very, very slowly with this. While I’m ready for a little something, I know I’m not yet back to 100% after the concussion.
So gentle, tiny, easy steps are the order.
If you aren’t having some Happy Moving every day, please, join me and experiment with one of these ideas this week:
- When reaching the top of a flight of stairs, do a calf stretch.
- Do a purposeful stretch in the morning before getting out of bed. Here are some ideas if you aren’t sure what would feel good for you.
- One push-up before getting into the shower.
- Walk just a smidge further than normal. This could mean parking a couple of rows from the front of the grocery store or taking a flight of stairs instead of the elevator or walking around the block before getting in the car. If you’re a regular walker, it could mean adding just a few more minutes into your normal walk, or maybe a hill, or something just a teeny bit more challenging.
- Slowly bend gently down toward your toes and roll back up, after every trip to the bathroom.
- Put your workout clothes on.
- When sitting at a desk, set a timer to go off on a regular interval and when it does, simply stand up and sit back down, without using your hands.
- Invent one tiny thing to experiment with that feels good, and gets you moving.
Remember, I’d love to hear how it goes, either here in the comments, on twitter (using the hashtag #ActiveEveryDay) or on the Perception Studios Facebook page.
In the last Happy Changes post we talked about Happy Sleeps.
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