Ten Minutes

I do my cardio at the gym. It’s not exciting or sexy, but it gets the job done.  It’s not a long workout but I do it most days and have done for years. If I’m honest, I’d feel weird if I didn’t do it. Despite all of this, I dread doing it.

Here’s the thing about the dread. It’s all mental. My body can handle it, but my mind insists on worrying over it like an animal licking a wound. It sits heavy on my mind like a weight until I actually get on a machine and start. And the first ten minutes are the hardest because I’m still carrying that weight with me. I think about how my muscles are tired today or how I just can do the intensity I did yesterday or how I just want to be home in bed. From all the whining and complaining, you would think I had never worked out in my life and in tremendous physical agony. Sadly, I think that a part of me does believe I am. 

Around the ten minute mark, my mind realizes I’m not getting off the machine and there is nothing to be had by yammering on. When my mind shuts up, my body can be heard and more often than not, she’s doing just fine. 

Think less. Do more.