Some people LOVE to exercise. Then there are the rest of us. I always admired and wished I was a physically active person, but my temperament is one that is very, very low energy. The thought of physical activity simply brings out the sloth in me.
I remember, when I was a teenager, my parents would take us to play tennis, or put me in a league to play. I remember enjoying tennis when I got there, but I dreaded going every time. I made myself miserable at the thought of it, getting dressed for it, on the ride over, etc. I thought myself into an uncomfortable hole which I would repeatedly have to dig myself out of.
It isn’t much different today. I have a swim spa and have spent years swimming in it for exercise. I have an elliptical machine at my desk which I try to use for 30 min every week day. But once I get out of the habit of doing it, most of the time due to some injury that comes with age, I dread doing these things again.
At the moment I am writing this, I haven’t swam in months. I feel guilty and wrong because I spent a lot of money on it, and I know I will enjoy it tremendously, but at some point I started thinking negatively about it, and that has kept me out of the water ever since. I hurt my shoulders somehow, and at first I didn’t want to make them worse. I also have to swim either last thing in the day, or at least when I won’t see anyone, because I wear a snorkle mask, and the lines on my face don’t go away for hours. By the end of the day, I’m so tired, and I’ve been so busy with a full time job, plus courses for my counseling, and actual ministry itself, I just dread the thought of doing one more thing when there is so much else I have to do. You see the negative cycle going on here?
Now I have to undo what I mentally did to myself. I have to remember how good it felt for my back to stretch out from swimming. I have to think how great my whole body felt, instead of lately my feet hurting from standing at my standing desk all day. I have to remember how great it feels to be floating and listening to my music or audio books. If I am going to start swimming again, I have to stop dreading it. That means thinking about and speaking things that will make me feel positively about it.
The same is true regarding how I feel about foods. When I’m on a whole food kick, I am a cooking monster, prepping and chopping and roasting foods to eat, making healthy dressings, slaws and salads. I look forward to them, I salivate at the thought of them.
And then I eat something that is high in fat and sugar, and the thought of eating healthy whole foods suddenly is equated with eating mud. I think of healthy foods as unsatisfying, when the opposite has been true for quite a while. I let the Pleasure Trap capture me, and then I’m shot until I get a hold of myself and realize I just need an attitude adjustment to get back on track. But I can get myself back on track every time, simply by associating good thoughts and feelings with whole foods again.
The same truths apply to how you see your job. If you are focused on the things that you don’t like, you will be miserable in your job. If you focus on what you like about the job and the things for which you are thankful, your life will be so much more enjoyable.
How you are thinking is going to determine how you feel, and how you talk to yourself reinforces how you feel. You are going to have to make a conscious decision to capture and discard the negative thoughts that are passing through your head, and instead redirect yourself to find the positive aspects of your life. This is the way to be free from the wiles of the enemy who has come to kill, steal and destroy your joy, so you can enjoy the abundant life Jesus died to give you.
RESET ASSIGNMENT:
- Think of the things you know are good for you and which you wish you were doing. It could be healthy eating and exercising, it might be managing your money, it could be modifying relationships. Make a list of them. Then write down the reasons why you don’t do them – every negative association you have with that item.
- Now, write down something positive about it that would entice you to do it. Give yourself positive mental images about those things as well as inviting words. Purposely start associating these positive things to the items on your list both mentally and out loud. Then start doing them!