In 2016 I made history. I think I was the first person to ever walk into the gym the first week of January to CANCEL my gym membership. It was the first time since I was old enough to use one, I did not have access or a membership to a gym and it felt really freeing (both literally and figuratively).

 

I'm by no means anti-gyms or think that people shouldn't have memberships to them. Instead, I'm from this new school of thought called do-what-works-best-for-you. In the summer I workout at the park because I love being outside. When it's too cold outside I workout in my basement. I kept my gym membership for a long time saying that I liked to have it "in case I wanted to get out of the house". But I get out of the house. In fact, I get out of the house a lot more when I am not burning up two hours of my time getting to and from and working out at the gym.

 

I realized that for years I searched for BALANCE but I refused to actually make the changes needed to find it. I'm sure you don't want to sit here and read the book of my life so I'll skip to this part ... I got out of my own way. I started getting creative about my approaches. When something wasn't working for me and I'm talking physically, mentally and emotionally, I found a way that did. 

 

I started finding more and more ways I could get creative, places I was stuck in old habits that didn't serve me. When I started running I would do strength training Monday, Wednesday and Friday then I would run Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and this "ideal" schedule followed me five(ish) years. Don't let this ideal schedule fool you, there were weeks and months that it didn’t happen (I'm only human).

 

The real problem was I wasn't happy with this schedule, I wasn't excited by it and it didn't work for me on any level. I like to run (I do interval running for 30-40 minutes so don't think I'm talking miles here) with the stroller. I used to hate it mainly because it was hard; now I see it as having a little jabbering piece of motivation right there in front of me.

 

I kept thinking that I had to wake up earlier and earlier so I could get out with him. And then I had a revelation ... how about I just do it at another time?! AHA. There's that crazy do-what-works-best-for-you new age thinking. Now I'm excited about my new approach. I've found that having balance is about having flexibility to go with the flow and do what works for me that day! So many people are turned off by fitness or start and stop because they're under the impression there is a specific place they have to go, a specific technique or a specific number of minutes they have to dedicate to it. You'd be much more successful if you just decided to do what works best for you.

 

I encourage you to take a step back from your life and see what areas aren't working for you. If you aren't happy with it, change it. Stay stubborn about your goals but flexible about your methods; in other words, get creative about your approach. 

 

Sweat & Smiles,

Melissa