Note: This is Day 18 in the “Recharge Your Creative Batteries in 31 Days” Challenge. For the rest of July, we’ll be posting different ways for you to get yourself on the path to living in a creative flow and reaching your writing goals. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any.
So how’s the movement going? Are you getting more of it in your day?
As I said in The Shocking Truth About Exercise post, anything you do that exerts physical activity counts as exercise. Which means it’s easy to get movement in your day, even when you can’t get a full exercise session in.
I know getting back into exercising on the regular is a challenge. Believe me, I’m no exercise lover. In fact, I had my first “in the gym” exercise session two days ago, my first in more than a year.
I do a lot of stretching on a daily basis, I walk several miles a week and I occasionally throw a yoga session in there, but I hadn’t been committing myself to regular exercise.
But you know what? When you move regularly, you build up momentum.
Then you start to feel good, your energy is higher and you’re a lot more positive than usual. Then weeks down the line you are feeling so good you start to wonder why you haven’t kept up with an exercise routine in the past.
Don’t Look Back
The important thing is not to look back to the past. It doesn’t matter why you didn’t keep up with exercising in the past. What matters is that you want to start doing it right now, today.
It’s the commitment to change that matters, the past is over and done with.
That said, I bet you still haven’t really committed yourself to exercising regularly. And that’s fine. You have to do it when the commitment feels right for you.
In the mean time thou, you can always dance in your living room.
A Dance A Day
I know it sounds goofy, but do you realize how much fun it is to just throw on some music and dance like a fool? If you don’t, it’s because you’ve never tried it.
Which is why you should.
As soon as you can, turn on some music and dance. Listen to the music and move your body to the beat. Try to dance for at least the length of the song (but I bet you’ll want to keep going!).
Wait ’til no one’s home if you’re self conscious, but I say make the others join in!
Try to do this every day for a week.
Will this activity make you a creative genius? Probably not in and of itself. But it will get you out of your head for a little while. Who couldn’t use that?
Share With Us
What songs do you like to dance to?
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I can totally relate to this post! I’d been dorking around with exercise off and on for the past few years, not really being consistent like I used to be. But something snapped a few weeks ago and I finally got back onto a decent, reasonably challenging workout schedule. Aside from seeing/feeling some good physical changes, I’ve noticed a huge improvement in my moods and mental clarity. I’ve always had a tendency to be too much in my head, so the more I move my body, the better. Of course, it’s very tempting to beat myself up for falling off the map with exercise, but as you said…”Don’t look back.”
And I also like your thought that everything that exerts physical activity counts as exercise. We’re trying to sell our house, and I feel like I’m vacuuming and cleaning every 10 minutes…so its good to know I can consider that as sort of a “mini-workout”. : ) But your dancing suggestion sounds much more fun than pushing a Hoover vac and scrubbing toilets, so I’ll definitely try it!
Maybe I’m really showing my inner nerd here, but there’s no exercise that makes me happier than dancing in my living room to great music. My dog must think I’m nuts, but I taught him how to “dance” on command too so we can bounce around the room together. LOL
And I totally believe that cleaning, vacuuming and even packing/moving counts as exercise. There are different levels of exercise, mild to moderate to extreme. I’d say cleaning/packing falls under “mild,” but it still counts!
Nicely done, Jennifer! I don’t know if you’ve ever seen my Twitter stream it’s FULL of Don Omar tunes on Pandora. LOL Although, I do more bouncing than writing when I listen and work, I do get up and mambo often. Dancing and boxing are my two favorites types of exercise and making them a part of my Pre-Focus Routine really gets me moving – even if it’s only for minutes at a time before a session starts.
(I’ve got more about the Pre-Focus Routine in my Fit Freelancer Focus Book) 
Thanks for the awesome post!
Glad to see I’m not the only one
[...] concept I was introduced to while attending the Institute for Integrative Nutrition is the concept of “mindful [...]
It is SO important to remember to go with the momentum and not look back at what you did/didn’t do in the past. I can get really stuck on those past points and it weighs me down.
This really helps me. I love my music and when I can get over the whole
Thanks for sharing this series! I’ve been a lurker, reading every day and not quite commenting (since it’s a pain to do so from my pesky cellphone), but anyway, great post–and thanks so much for sharing! 
“I’m too tired/bored/exhausted” whatever, and just crank up the volume for a few songs, it brightens up my whole day. I think my favorite song at present, is C.C. Catch’s Hollywood Nights.
Thanks for commenting! I appreciate you adding to the InkyBites community. I think music is the best way to just let the world fall away. I took my first Zumba class the other night and it was so much fun! I enjoyed taking an hour to just move to the music.