I am one of those people that cannot stand going to the gym. My brain gets bored doing repetitions of an exercise, so I’ve had to find other ways to keep active. In the process, I have learned how to keep myself motivated to do an exercise or activity. All of them involve a purpose or end point of some type, or something done with a group of people.
Before the pandemic this meant I avoided using my car and used my bike instead. The end goal of getting from point “A” to point “B” kept me motivated to keep up my pace and get a workout. Another thing I did was to join a paddling team. Even though we did not have a specific destination, the purpose was to be out on the water, enjoying the activity together.
The pandemic has required that I find other ways to be active. As I am no longer commuting to work by bike, and given that the paddling team is no longer an option as we cannot be in one boat together, I replaced it with regularly walking up to my grandma’s house to check on her. At the same time, my dog was not getting enough exercise as she no longer goes to doggie daycare. To resolve both things, I jumped on the paddle board craze! Now my dog and I are out on the water multiple times each week. She gets to swim and I get to paddle. Because my dog is so eager to go swimming, and she needs the exercise, it makes it easy to be motivated to go out even on cloudy days.
My takeaway from this experience is knowing what motivates you will help in your finding activities that are easy to do consistently. Having access to someone with whom to brainstorm, like a health coach or athletic trainer, can be tremendously helpful in discovering fun activities you may never have considered or thought about to motivate you. You can do this and remember to get outside!
