Don’t you just hate pain?!?! Pain is like the hair in your soup, like the rain on your parade, like the darkest night ever! You just don’t know when it will end or how to make it stop. Am I right? How many of us have a joint or problem area just like that?
Ever heard the phrase, “through every dark night, there is a bright day ahead?” Well it’s true, and you don’t have to be in pain any more. There is one key, one habit, one behavior that holds most, if not all, of your answers. Ready for it? It’s the beautiful “E” word.
EXERCISE!
Now, to many exercise is a bad word. An activity ignored and rejected like expired milk. So let me ask you, when you think of exercise what pops in your thoughts? Working out in a gym packed with people demonstrating just how out of shape you are? Running until your shirt is drenched with sweat, looking like you just won a wet t-shirt contest? If that’s the case, let me just blow your mind right here and now.
Exercise should be about doing something you love! An activity that gets you up and moving around for more than 30 minutes a day. That’s it...that’s the key. Why are you still reading? Oh, I hear the little voice in your head telling you, “what? That’s what I’ve been waiting for? That’s all I need to stop the pain?” The answer is a resounding, YUP! So allow me to elaborate and blow your mind some more.
You say, “ I love to go shopping. So you’re saying shopping will stop my pain?” My answer to that is, “YUP!”
You say, “I enjoy reading and books. So reading will stop my pain?” My retort to your inquisition is a reverberating, “YUP!”
You say, “I love spending time with my kids. So you’re telling me my kids will stop the pain? My reply is, “ uh, yeah. Like, how did you not know the answer is, YUP!”
Just modify some of those activities and you got exercise and a workout on your hands. So when you go shopping, take the parking spot farthest from the entrance and when you shop, avoid using a cart if possible. You’ll not only save your car door from some dings and dents but you’ll be getting some of those steps in that you watch keeps bugging you about.
If you love to read, audiobooks are a great way to experience a book in a new way, especially when the reader adds their spin on the characters or the autobiography is read by the biographer. So load up your favorite book, join a book club, or start audiobooking from the New York Times bestseller list while you go out for a jog. Added side bonus, you own a whole library of books already, just check your local library. 😉
Kids are the best workout buddies in my opinion. They always come up with crazy, whacky games that don’t make sense but are so much fun, they never run out of ideas, and they always seem to have endless energy. Always great to have at your fingertips and run around in the backyard, at the park, in the garage, you name it. Don’t have kids you say? Well I’m sure you have that family member or friend who does. So give them a call and be the cool aunt/uncle, cousin, friend that says, “let’s hangout, kid style!”
What I’m trying to say is exercise doesn’t have to be something you dread. Exercise shouldn’t be something that doesn’t exist in your life. Exercise is all around you and, technically, you already do a lot of it. Also, the definition of exercise is different for everyone, so make it your own. Take back and take control of what it means for you to exercise in your life. Find that one thing you loved doing when you were a kid and let that inner child come out and start doing it again. Find that love for exercise and get rid of pain in your life for good.
Lookin’ Up,
Dr. Estrada
~You Deserve the Best, So Expect the Best!
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