Overcoming Exercise Obstacles

We all know that exercising is an important aspect to our health.  I know that when I exercise, I feel better, stronger, and happier.  I feel like my clothes fit better, even if my weight has not changed at all, and I feel more confident.  When I don't work out, I feel sluggish, tired, and very self conscious.  I don't like the way my clothes fit and I don't like the way I look.

So, knowing all this, why is it so hard for me to be consistent with my workouts?  I do great for a few weeks and then I have a week like last week where I don't work out at all.  

One of the big concepts I learned at Green Mountain was to stop thinking about it as exercise and to start thinking about it was moving.  The word exercise makes you think of 30 minutes of walking on the treadmill followed by 20 minutes of lifting weights.  To me, that sounds boring and monotonous.  

What types of movement that I like might be totally different from what types of movement another person likes.  That was one of the reasons we tried so many different types of movement at Green Mountain.  We had choices every time exercise was on our schedule.  That way we could try something new or even avoid exercise that we knew we wouldn't enjoy.  I learned that I did not enjoy the cardio on the fitball but really liked Nia and Vermonting.  

So what is the point I am trying to get to?  I need to work harder on making my exercise less monotonous.  If I don't feel like doing the Jillian Michaels workout maybe I should go for a walk.  If I am tired after a really busy day at work, maybe I should go to the pool.  The whole idea is to get moving.  Of course we want to get our target heart rate up
but, like I learned at Green Mountain, something is better than nothing.  

I've always wanted to play tennis.  For some reason, I never really got into it.  I tried to sign up for a beginners tennis class back in the spring but it was cancelled because of lack of participants.  This weekend, my boyfriend bought a tennis racket and we went and played tennis both yesterday and today.  This morning's tennis game included a 2 mile round trip walk to and from the tennis courts.  I wore my Polar heart monitor and definitely got my heart rate up.  Probably because I was running after the ball so much.  Although I was not good at the game, I had a lot of fun and I think I want to play more often.  So if anyone wants to play a game with me, just let me know!

I had on my most capable tennis outfits.  I definitely think it helped me play better.

Dealing with stress

Stress is an inevitable part of our lives.   Learning how to handle stressful situations was one of the most beneficial things I learned at Green Mountain.  But just like with everything else I learned at Green Mountain, incorporating these techniques into my life takes effort and does not happen overnight.  In other words, while I am doing better dealing with stressful situations, I am not an expert at it yet.    Recently, I have found myself in some very stressful situations.  I can't say that I have handled the stress in stellar fashion. However, I also think I'm doing good considering the circumstances that I was put in. And while I would like to say that I feel like everyone has been supportive, there have been some instances where I've felt like I was thrown under a bus and run over. Repeatedly. 

I've tried to use what I learned at Green Mountain to help me deal with this stress.  But in a highly stressed moment, it is hard to remember those things.  It's all well and good for me to know that my most effective stress relieving techniques are to remove myself from the situation, such as going into the bathroom and locking the door so that person can't follow you, washing my hands or putting lotion on my hands, taking deep breaths, and slowly drinking water, preferably through a straw.  Others may not understand that those are stress relieving techniques  and take offense, especially the one where you remove yourself from the situation, i.e. walking out of the room while someone is causing you stress.  I try to remind myself that not everyone has effective tools to deal with stress and it might be less than helpful to recommend they should learn some. I do have a habit of handing out handwritten affirmations to my workmates.  So far I've been met with favorable responses to that.  

My eating habits seem to always be the first to suffer when I get stressed.  While at Green Mountain, we were encouraged to eat on a schedule.  However, there are days that I've been so busy I realize it is 2 or 3 in the afternoon and all I've eaten so far is a yogurt and a banana.  As a nurse, I often skip lunch or wait until late in the afternoon to eat lunch.  When I finally get a chance to eat, I am so hungry that I grab the first thing that comes to hand.  Sometimes it is a healthy lunch that I have packed myself.  Other times it is a cupcake, donut, or bag of chips that has been brought in by a well wishing organization or family.  And yet, how can we expected to do our jobs effectively if we are hungry?  How can we handle the stress effectively?  No wonder people lose their temper or act rudely when they are under stress.  Maybe they are just hangry (hungry and angry).  It's like those Snickers commercials where a person is losing their temper at another person and their friend hands them a Snickers bar.  You just don't act yourself when you are hungry (or hangry, whichever). 

Of course, we are trying to provide our patients the best care possible.  I often feel guilty if I delay going to draw a patients labs by 5 or 10 minutes so that I can eat a few bites of lunch.  I know that the patients want to be done in clinic so that they can go home.  But, in reality, does that patient really want a nurse who has a pounding headache and feeling slightly lightheaded because she is so hungry to draw their blood or give them chemo??  We must first take care of ourselves if we are going to take care of others.  

So in this high stress time, I am going to try very hard to stop myself before I get too worked up.  Once my stress level has gotten to a certain point, it is hard for me to calm down.  I got out my Green Mountain binder to remind myself of some of the great stress relieving techniques that we learned.  I wrote out some new affirmations to tape to my computer.  I cannot rely on others to know how to control their anger and stress.  But I can try to not let myself react in the same way.