So, I was looking at a health website, and came across a post on "5 Tips for Exercise Motivation." Exercise that isn't group exercise (read: ultimate frisbee) is difficult for me to stick with. Which isn't to say I don't move a lot, I do, but that's because not moving hurts, not because I'm motivated to move more. So, exercise motivation? Sure, I'll give it a read.

So, I read them. The tips are/were:

Find a support system
Think positive
Make a commitment
Celebrate the small successes
Select comfortable workout clothes

Let me tell you, that last one is spot off. If you want to motivate for exercise, putting any barrier in place will be demotivating. "I can't go for a run unless I have these clothes on!" No, you can go for a run with only running shoes, underwear, and a sports bra. Everything else is bonus. You might not feel comfortable running in these clothes, but you'll be running, which is the point of motivation: the doing of the thing. If you want to have a stronger core, drop down into a plank and hold it. You don't need to change out of the dress clothes you're in, just drop into plank position, and go. Want to do 120 pushups today? Drop into that plank and have at it. Chin ups? Pull ups? Walk by that bar on the way back from the bathroom, and up you go.

Point is, the more barriers you put up, the harder motivation has to work. Better to make exercise easy.

"You like your tea cold."

"No, I like my tea hot, I tolerate it cold."

Hearing other person's perceptions of you is often very interesting.

I took a Covid test today. I have a runny nose, likely from the change in weather and a change in my exercise level, but a runny nose is a runny nose, and that means taking a test in the Era of Covid. Based on recommendations from various experts, I followed the Chilean process of swabbing the throat first. I did not follow up with swabbing my nose, but I'll try that next time.

And "Well, that's an interesting ..."

I had seen the result, took the picture of it, and had turned away. In true Kitt Style™, I became distracted by words as I was reading the results, and hadn't realized I was speaking out loud.

"WHAT? WHAT? WHAT IS THE RESULT?" "What was it?" "What happened?"

"Oh, sorry, negative."

Oops.

I was having a conversation with R--- today, about boundaries, about loss, about grief. The conversation wandered through various levels of discomfort before I admitted I didn't want to do something because it made me feel uncomfortable.

"Well, get comfortable with being uncomfortable."

And there it was. The key. To boundaries. To honesty. To growth. To life.

Accepting the uncomfortable, sitting with it, letting it exist. Don't avoid it, don't run away with it, be with it. Become comfortable with the uncomfortable.

I appreciated the comment so much that I added it as a bingo square for this year.