Joyful movement might be confusing and here’s one reason why.

One of the first steps in shifting your relationship with exercise is taking into account your own voice.
By asking yourself
“how does exercise make you feel?”
I want to add some complexity as to why this might be difficult for some to start with.
And I’ll do this with a story.

A while back, I had a friend “ghost” me.
I had a pretty rough time, and couldn’t figure out what I did wrong.
I would replay various scenarios in my head over and over again.
“It could have been this-?”
“Or maybe when I did that?
Yeah- I’m sure it was that”
And this questioning went on for a couple years randomly in my head when a memory would surface.

Then, my mom opened up to me about this particular friendship:
“when I saw you two interact, she wasn’t really the type of friend you usually gravitate towards- so your friendship surprised me”
Then she followed it up with asking:
“Did you enjoy her friendship?”

And that’s when the flood of information hit me.
I had NEVER thought of it that way.
I never ASKED MYSELF IF I ENJOYED HER FRIENDSHIP.

I was so consumed that she “ghosted me” AND WHY that happened- that I never took a moment to ask myself - how I felt.

And that, my friends-
Spurred this thought from the woods today about why joyful movement might feel confusing.

Because we have lost our navigation or our compass back to ourselves.

So, asking yourself “how does exercise make me FEEL?” might feel odd, becuase there are so many situations in life where we make ourselves fit into a mold- shifting and shaping so that others’ perceive us as ‘more palatable’

We check how everyone else feels,
Or we check our watches- or to do lists to measure our worth. We hardly ever ask ourselves if WE enjoy who we are.
So, if the approaches of ‘joyful movement’ feel a bit foreign to you- this may be a reason why.

Learning little things like this daily help me move through the mud of healing my relationship with exercise. I hope it brought insight to yours.