Positive Language Counts

I read a pull-out section in the Wall Street Journal the other day about retirement. I must confess I found it more than a little depressing. Most of the people surveyed didn’t spend any more time exercising than they did when they were employed. What a shame. One of the authors boasted about how she didn’t feel like exercising, so she didn’t, as if that was a positive choice that enabled her to “enjoy life” while all the fit people wasted their lives in misery. I rather wished an article had been authored instead by one of the dedicated men and women I see every morning exercising without fail at the fitness center.

One of the biggest roadblocks I see to success is the tendency to associative negative language with exercise. Negativity always sets us up for failure. One author on Facebook refers to her “evil exercise program.” People who rarely work out describe exercise as painful, agonizing, time consuming, and difficult. People who exercise religiously describe it as relaxing, energizing, enjoyable, and mood-enhancing. Then they bubble on about how it enabled them to drop certain medications, improve blood sugar level, blood pressure and more. Attitude matters more than anything else when it comes to making a plan and achieving success.

For those of you who can’t remember the last time you walked a mile or picked up a weight, I’m on my knees praying I can convert you into an exercise advocate, who uses movement to enhance your life. When I start the day without a workout, I often feel frazzled by midday. When I start the day in motion, I have a sense of calm, focus, and well-being that carries me through until nighttime.

Sometimes non-exercisers appease their own guilt by accusing active people of being obsessive, unproductive, and weight worriers. This certainly doesn’t describe my life or the lives of most of the people I see every day at the workout center! Instead of using negative language to describe exercise and the people who choose to be active, why don’t you try using positive language to get your back side out of the house? Talk to yourself about how that workout will help you focus to complete a task, how it will enable you to be more patient with a taxing family member, how it will improve your health and give your self-esteem a boost when you’re feeling low.

So don’t wait—embark today on your wonderful, exhilarating, life-changing exercise program.