When I ask people what they’d like to do for their own happiness projects, they often say something like, “Exercise more regularly.” Exercise is very important for health and mood, and everyone knows this. And yet it’s often tough for people to stick to an exercise routine.
I think that one mistake is to choose a form of exercise based on a) what your friend recommends, b) what kind of change to your body you want to see, or c) what is the fashionable form of exercise.
It’s helpful to consider these factors, but in the end, we’re far more likely to stick with an exercise routine that suits our nature and our schedule. If you’re struggling to exercise regularly, this is not the place to fight your nature! If you’ve been a night person all your life, vowing to get up at 5:00 a.m. to run isn’t very realistic.
So what questions can you ask yourself to find an exercise routine that works for you?
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So many of these things are so true. I once bought a treadmill because a) my sister bought one and she turned into a runner, and told me to, and b) at that/this point in my life, it seems like running is the ONLY thing that considered “real” exercise, and I [literally] bought into that belief.
I’ve since sold the treadmill–which I hardly used–and bought an indoor recumbent bike. I don’t *love* it, but comparatively speaking to the treadmill, it’s great. And it helps give me incentive to use it at the end of the day even though my feet are aching from work!
I could totally see this sequence of questions made up into a flow chart of some kind, ending in lists of activities to choose from. There are a lot of activities out there that aren’t even considered because they are even known about!