Each weekday I open the door to our home and I breathe a sigh of relief. I feel weary to the bone and I long to sit on the sofa for a while in silence and think of nothing. My children know to give me 5 minutes rest before they bombard me with “Mommy, can you sign this?”, “Mommy can you help me?”, “Mommy look what I got for my test”.
Working with 5 year olds tires me out: my voice is croaky at the end of the day, and I am beat. The last thing I wish to do is go out again, one hour after I have arrived home, to walk to Taekwondo with my girls. Yet when the time comes, I get them ready to go knowing that the exercise will do them good. On our walk to the dojang, I hear some stories about the girls’ day. At the moment it is getting a bit chilly, so we walk briskly – exercising on our way to some formal training.
Arriving at the Taekwondo school, we are greeted by friendly faces and smiles. Each time we enter the place where we exercise, I know we made the right decision to enrol there. The school has a friendly and inviting atmosphere that is welcoming and comforting to my children.
When the exercises begin, my heart starts pumping. I am fitter than I was when I began in May – though I still get out of breathe and struggle at times to keep up with the young members of the school. As I exercise, though, I feel my weariness slip away from me bit by bit. At the end of the class, sweat trickling down my brow, I feel a satisfaction in the fact that I have moved my body and that my movements are improving.
I leave the class feeling invigorated and ready for the walk home. When I lay my head on my pillow to sleep, I quickly drift off. A bonus of exercise, for me, is that I do not struggle to fall asleep on the days I have exerted myself physically.
Do you have an inner battle with yourself before going to exercise?
© Colline Kook-Chun, 2013
At least your croaky voice is due to work, not like mine due to a summer cold 🙂
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Not good Newsy. Hope you get better soon so that you can enjoy your warm days.
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Big kudos to you for taking care of yourself physically!
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Thank you Laurie. I have a lot of encouragement form my husband and children 🙂
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So Taekwondo is the answer! I wish I had known that when I was working with 5-year olds :D. Have you tried yoga, too?
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No I haven’t though I am told it is a good solution. I decided to try out Taekwondo as I was taking my children there anyway and I did not really have enough hours in the day to take myself to dancing or aerobics.
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I’d be surprised if most of us (unless you’re, like, Bob Harper from The Biggest Loser) didn’t have some kind of internal battle to exercise. I’ve become much more committed to working out. I’m about a million times more fit than I was a year ago (though I still have miles to go!) and have made a bunch of friends at the gym, so it’s a pleasant social scene when I go there. I always feel better when I leave. And last night I had to DRAG myself, whining whining whining the whole time until I hoisted that first batch of weights for warmup, to the gym. I hear you!
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The only time I did not have to convince myself to exercise was when I was dancing. It was never a hardship to go out at night, even in winter, for a lesson or a practise. This may be because I enjoy moving to music 🙂
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I really do enjoy exercise, but I think we all have moments when the last thing we want to do is get up and exercise. I do Pilates on a reformer at home, as well as weight training. On alternate days I head to the gym for an early morning deep water walk for about 1 1/2 hours. When I get up to go to the pool, especially in the winter before the sun comes up, I have to push myself. However, the moment I slip into the water I have an “ahhhhh” moment and I’m good to go.
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It sounds like you have your exercise routine down pat. I like the variety you have chosen – though I am unable to do those pilates exercises. 🙂
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It is a pity that our lifestyles make it necessary to impose excercise for the sake of it if we are to stay fit. Ideally, the normal day should include equal lots of mental and physical stimulation.
My urge to walk dogs on the beach helps – particularly the steep climb getting back home!
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The best exercise is what we do in the course of our day. I think on days past and how people worked physically and had no need to go to gym. Those were healthier days I think.
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That is awesome! I’m so proud for you and your little ones. I miss martial arts.
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My children love doing it. I used to take them and just watch. The Master encouraged me to join in and I decided to finally give it a go.
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I think that’s wonderful. It’s especially cool when you are doing something like this as a family thing. Hallie and I took TaeKwonDo together. Although, she was in Karate Cubs at the time and I was in the adult class. I love that we did that together. One day, when I have more time and money, I plan to get back into it. I did a tournament once in LA and actually earned a couple of medals, which of course put me on Cloud 9, as I’d never earned a trophy or anything like that in my life. I’m pretty proud of our belts, too. I would like to go back and earn a black belt.
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Wow! Don’t think I will go as far as competing – but one never knows what the future may hold 🙂
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I never thought I would, either. Life is full of surprises. Sometimes, even good ones. 😉
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Wonderful post, Colline. Inspiring. 🙂 I do battle with myself about exercise, and after I do it I wonder why I fussed so much? I always feel better for having done it.
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And yet the next time we have the same battle 🙂
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Two thoughts-first of all, teachers are very special people. And secondly, hats off to you to do this with your kids!
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Thank you so much for your kind words 🙂
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Running, yoga and weight training bring me relief and release from stress. Most of all they bring me joy. I run before dawn as my days are long and I know I will lose motivation after work. Keep up the good work!
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Thank you. I have not reached the stage yet where I want to do on more days than I currently do. Once I do reach that stage I will know that I have been wholly converted.
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Oh yes I do. And I have been losing that battle of late 😦 Need to get back to a regular routine.
Admirable how you stick to with it despite the demands on your time!
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I think that if it weren’t for my children, it would have been harder. My thought always is that they need the exercise, and they need to continue to do well in the sport.
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Wow! Well done to you, Colline!
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Thank you so much Michelle 🙂
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Congrats for keeping it up! I have battles all the time about going for my runs. Once I’m running I enjoy it, but getting myself out the door is challenge some days. Especially now that it’s getting colder. Keep it up!
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I agree. Especially when it begins to snow!
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I am grateful to my dog, who insists I take her for walks every day! It would be so tempting to stay inside when the weather is nasty, but out we must go, and I always feel better afterwards.
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You have the perfect exercise partner who will encourage you to go out rain or shine – and who, I am sure, enjoys long walks 🙂
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I always feel great afterwards, so don’t mind going to gym. I do sometimes joke with hubby though, and say, “I’ll just wait in the car for you.” 😀
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Sounds like you go to gym with hubby. I like that 🙂
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Funny, that struggle before exercising, isn’t it? The first few minutes are the hardest, but when you’re done exercising, the reward is a feeling of peace, serenity and the ability to think more clearly and move with ease. I, too struggle to remind myself of the benefits before exercising as I groan and whine my way into it. Later, I wonder why it seemed like such a big deal. 🙂
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It may be because it does not seem natural to us – it is not an automatic part of what we do everyday without thinking.
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I think you just shared the secret to overcoming the entire exercise resistance issue! It needs to become an automatic part of our day. Perhaps, climbing the staircase to work rather than taking the elevator could be a good choice…provided we are not too tired 🙂
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I don’t even ‘go’. I exercise at home, kind of preventive medicine for my back and hip aches. I know it does me good, but it’s a struggle to get started. Once done, the satisfaction is always there, so it’s worth doing, and worth the struggle with my brain!
Keep up the good work. I know your job is exhausting.
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Thank you Gemma. And as the week comes to a close my thoughts on not on exercising but on sleeping 🙂
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Have the struggle every.single.time. I even used to teach indoor cycle and that was worse, knowing I have to motivate others when I was unmotivated myself. Of course, once there I always felt better…but just getting out of the house can be tough!
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Especially when you are settled in the routine of whatever it is you are doing 🙂
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