When we received the stay-at-home order back in March 2020 my pre-pandemic routines for exercising fell apart hard and fast. Some days, I would realize at dinnertime that not only had I not showered or gotten dressed that day, I hadn’t even brushed my teeth. When the pandemic began, I optimistically embraced the idea that I could get back into running outside. I picked a half marathon to train for and spent a week or so meticulously devising a detailed daily training plan. However, I only stuck to that plan for only a few weeks. Then I started to skip my training runs despite feeling like the importance of exercising and the good health it brings has never been more bracingly clear. Despite knowing that it would cut my risk of heart disease in half. Why did I skip exercise despite knowing all this? The truth is our ability to follow through on our intentions, to get into a new habit like exercise or to change our behavior in any way, actually doesn’t depend on the reasons that we might do it or on the depth of our convictions to do it.
Here’s how I finally got myself to start exercising
