How to Motivate Yourself to Go for a Walk in Cold Weather

“I just need the motivation to drag myself out in the cold to walk,” one of my friends said yesterday.

Let me tell you, I hear that. I so get it. I know just how he feels. So. . . here’s what motivates me to be physically active outside during the coldest months of the year.

Gratitude. Every day, I express gratitude that I am alive and am healthy. And moving my body is one way that I thank it for being there for me over the years. Last year, for a few weeks, I wasn’t able to run outdoors, and so when I did to return to the pavement, I felt enormous gratitude and thankfulness. It’s funny. Sometimes being told you “can’t” do something makes you want to do it all the more. And every day that I run is a day that I’m grateful.

Accomplishment. I like to get things done. And when I’ve walked (or run) outside, I feel like I accomplished something. It makes me proud. Especially in the winter, when snow, ice, wind, drifts, and cold make me feel that I’ve achieved something special.

Invigoration. Running outdoors in January really gets the juices flowing, and I’m not just talking about my circulatory system. Running outdoors clears my head, gives me time to think, and it helps me become very focussed on what is precisely in front of me. It helps me focus on the here and now. When I’m navigating a little patch of ice, or enjoying a freshly-shoveled sidewalk, I’m not thinking about what happened yesterday or what is going to happen tomorrow.

The reward. For me, my post-run reward is a warm bath, a hot beverage, and warm fleecy clothes.

Fun. Believe it or not, running outside in January is fun. I’ve now been doing this running thing outside for an entire calendar year now, I’ve discovered that winter running is so much easier and satisfying than running in brutal heat of August. The invigoration, the challenge, the “me versus the elements” is exciting and maybe even a little dramatic, and drama and excitement can be very, very pleasurable!

Up Next: Celebrate Everything!

Gratitude Revisited

 

I remember when I first started thinking about gratitude.  It was back in the 1990s, and Sarah Ban Breathnach was being interviewed on The Oprah Winfrey Show.  She and Oprah were talking about gratitude, gratitude journals, and the like.

“Sure,”  I thought.  “That sounds fine for people who have nothing better to do.  It’s probably a wonderful idea, but I seriously don’t have time for it.”  I was working on a doctorate at the time, teaching classes at a couple of local universities, and feeling stressed out, overworked, overwhelmed, and generally tired.

Fast forward to 2007.  An unhealthy relationship had ended. I’d finished the degree, and I found myself taking a personal development course.   One of the assignments given by the facilitator of this course was to create a list of 300 gratitudes.

300!

Of course, because I was investing a lot of money, time, and energy in this workshop, I decided, “Fine.  If that’s the assignment, I’m darn well gonna do it.”

And so, as I was sitting in La Guardia in April, 2007, I started compiling my list of 300 things to be grateful for.  I numbered several pages in a journal from 1 to 300, and I began listing things.  And the longer my list became, the more relaxed I felt.  

And then a miracle happened.

I was in the Milwaukee airport, up to  “Gratitude 169” I was given free air fare!  FREE!  Out of nowhere I was suddenly the proud owner of a voucher good for a free round trip ticket to anywhere in the continental United States.   “Gratitude 169” convinced me that this gratitude thing really works, and I got totally serious about it. 

I began a morning routine of drinking coffee and writing out things I am grateful for. 

That routine morphed into an evening ritual of writing out gratitudes before I go to sleep.

Then I decided to incorporate gratitude not just into my mornings and evenings, but into my days as well, and now I carry an “On the Go” gratitude journal in my purse.  When I find myself  with a few moments, wherever I am, I take out that little journal and write down what I’m grateful for in that moment.

And as I was relishing the idea of gratitude in my life, I started becoming enormously grateful for my body.  Even though I was, at the time, heavier than was healthy for my height, I started thinking about being grateful for being able to walk up the stairs to my apartment.  I started begin grateful for being able to hear the cry of the peacocks as I walked past the children’s zoo.  I began to be grateful that I could see the clear blue summer sky.  I began to be grateful that I could touch the soft fur of my black and white cat.  

Being grateful for being able to experience these small pleasures through my physical body shifted my thinking and my energy.  Because I was so grateful to be blessed with this precious human body, I began to treat it a little better.  Because I was grateful for being, overall, pretty healthy, I started to eat a few more fruits and vegetables and drink a little more water.  Because I was grateful for being able to move with relative ease, I started moving a little bit more.  Because I was grateful for being alive, I started to enjoy my life just a little bit more!

Gratitude has become a key component to my life.  Gratitude was a key component in my releasing weight through pleasure.  And gratitude is a key component to maintaining a healthful weight.

Are you up for a challenge?

I challenge you to make your own Gratitude List. 

Right now.

Take out a pen and a pad or journal.

Number from 1 to 300.  

Start listing things you’re grateful for.

And let me know what happens!  E-mail me at nannerl123@yahoo.com.

Up Next:  The Pollyanna Game

What They Don't Tell You About Losing Weight

 

You’ll still have laundry.

You’ll still have dishes.

You’ll still have a few aches and pains.

You’ll still bad hair days.

You’ll still have diapers and cat litter.

You’ll still have garbage.

You’ll still vacuuming.

You’ll still have closets to clean.

You’ll still have arguments with your spouse or significant other or kids or friends.

When I was fat, I idealized being thin.  I thought that, if I could only lose weight, then my life would be perfect.  I’d have the perfect job, the perfect boyfriend, the perfect apartment, the perfect car.  I thought that the stars would align.  I would be at one with the universe.   I’d attain enlightenment.  

My thinking was wrong.  “If only [you fill in the blank] would happen, then I could be happy,” was the underlying theme of these thoughts.  I was waiting to become thin.  I thought that, once I was thin, then I really would be happy.   But being thin doesn’t make you happy.  

For me, it’s more like being happy that makes you thin.

Weird, huh?

Up Next:  30 Pounds in 30 Days!

You can find me at http://www.fallinlovewithyourbody.com.