About 3 years ago, I started using a hashtag Wake Up And Walk, to inspire people to move in the morning - or any time they wake up - to help improve and maintain mental health. There were many times in my life, when I woke up and didn't know the first thing to do - or I did, but I couldn't possibly face it in that moment or without some sort of push - and preferably a healthy one.
For years, I would drive to my favorite preserve as often as I could. I started by walking mostly and running when I was ready. I started only being able to run 3-4 minutes at a time. I blamed it on the hills, but it had been so long since I had done cardio and even longer since I had been doing it consistently. I had to rebuild. Once it got easier to run for those 3-4 minutes, I would increase my time little by little. I never ran for distance, only ever for time. My body was my guide. I could feel it feeling better the more I did it. My tightness and tension eased. My mind cleared. Even the muscle soreness from the activity felt better than the soreness from not doing anything. Before I knew it, I was running for up to an hour at a time. I felt so free and so strong. I had so much more confidence in myself than I had had before. Real confidence, not ego. This is what that did for me.
Fast forward to today where I have my own Personal Training business and am moving all throughout the day, and helping others do it too. I am not only consistent with my cardiovascular training, but my strength training and flexibility training as well. My life is very different than it was when I first started waking up and walking at that preserve. I am filled with gratitude for that.
Now, I use the hashtag Wake Up And Move - for those who can't walk. One of my clients lost his leg many years back. He started working with me so that he could strengthen the muscles he needed to, so that he could be eligible for a prosthetic. Great news, he did. I worked with a man at a restaurant before Covid, who recently lost his foot. I think of them just about every time I walk now. It was after that, I realized that if I wanted to get the message out to people that exercise will help them, I needed to send the right message. It needed to be inclusive. I want you all to know that you don't need to do anything specific for it to matter, but you do have to move. It might be hard at first, and it might even hurt, but I promise you it will hurt far less than doing nothing.
It seems to me that for many people, the goal is to move less. Some even work hard at it. They get smart devices to turn things on and off, and up and down. Before those, there were lesser intelligent tools like the Clapper. You clap to turn the light on, and you clap to turn it off. For some though, these are truly aides that make a drastic difference in their functionality and independence. For others, it's a way to stay where they are - to not have to get up to get done what they wish.
The truth is, the less we move, the harder moving becomes. We start by limiting our range of motion and taking fewer steps. Then we might stop doing some things all together because it's hard or it hurts, or maybe we don't want it to hurt. We think if we just stay still, we won't feel as much pain. Maybe sometimes that's true, but I believe that you will be trading one pain for another. It's important to move in the ways you can and to build from there. You don't have to do it all, and it doesn't have to all be done right now. But do begin. Move.
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