Hate Exercise? Here's How To Find Your Motivation To Move Even As You Age
How do you find motivation to exercise when work, life and age starts getting in the way? For starters, stop using the word "exercise"
When you were a toddler you would run, jump, splash in the pool and prance around the room. And when you were a child or teenager you probably did martial arts or played a team sport at school. And it was fun! But as an adult, your relationship with activity changed. Somewhere along the way the fun went out of being active and you slowed down. And now you can’t really find the enthusiasm to get moving.
You have so many other things to do, anyway. There’s your work, and being a parent, your responsibilities as a wife, daughter and so on. With so many other responsibilities on your plate, it is easy to see exercise as just another chore you have to fit in. And even finding the ‘me time’ to exercise can seem self-indulgent when you are a busy working mother. After you have supervised homework, and planned meals and paid bills, where do you even find the time to exercise?
Before long your physical activity gets downgraded from a must-do to a nice-to-do. And then one day you realise you have not exercised for months, or even years.
No judgement here. Life happens. Sometimes all you want after a busy day is to give yourself a DIY massage and get some decent sleep. But humans are born to be active. We are happiest when we are moving! You can see this in children – they get great enjoyment and satisfaction from running or dancing. And this enthusiasm for activity stays with you for life – so no matter how old you are, it is just waiting to be re-activated. Try these tips to get you started.
It’s often easier to be active if you are doing it with a friend or group of other people. When your motivation is low, it is much easier to keep moving when you are surrounded by a group of positive and encouraging people. Plus, when you know your kakis are expecting you at their regular meetups you are less likely to flake out and flop onto the sofa.
Being active in a group is often more fun as well – and that’s vital. Check out your nearest community centre to find group activities near you.
This year is is especially easy to find something new to do because GetActive! events are being held all around Singapore. In addition to exercise classes, you can attend festivals, compete in square dancing or roller skating and attend workshops for all ages that show you how to incorporate fitness movements into your daily routine. Find out more here.
Text: Bauer Syndication/ARE Media, Additional research: Tara Barker