Sunday, May 2, 2010

Life’s Too Short to Exercise

“The span of our life is seventy years, perhaps in strength even eighty; yet the sum of them is but labor and sorrow, for they pass away quickly and we are gone.” Psalm 90:10

Exercise – A four letter word (times two)
I used to tell people I didn’t exercise because of my beliefs. I explained that I believed in the limited heartbeat theory. I felt we were all born with a certain number of heartbeats. When your number is up—your number is up. I would go on to explain that exercise, of course, increases one’s heart rate, and I didn’t want to tempt fate. Better to be safe than in shape.

That was 30 years ago. Now that I'm older and wiser (and tipping the scale has taken on a whole new meaning), I've come to realize the necessity of physical activity and that staying in shape doesn't just happen naturally. I still don't think much time should be spent on the necessary evil of exercise, so I have found some very effective 20 minute-a-day workouts which done first thing in the morning gets it out of the way for the day. Yoga and walking are good forms of stress relief and should be done as needed in addition.

Life's short. Don't exercise until it becomes absolutely essential, and then don't obsess over it--just do it.

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