Well hello there! Welcome back to the redefining Bold podcast. You're listening to episode number 13 and I'm your host Gwen Whitfield from theboldabode.com, where I guide warm-hearted women in their quest for a more organized, cleaner home and a more productive and vibrant life.

Today I want to say this: girl move your butt.

Are you exercising? Because if you're not, I have to tell you that you're really, really, really missing out.

Now I have exercised off and on over my entire life. I guess you would say I've had a complicated relationship with exercise. And I didn't realize why until I started studying the Enneagram. If you'd like to know more about what the Enneagram is you can go to theboldabode.com/010 that’s t-h-e-b-o-l-d-a-b-o-d-e.com/010, and that will take you to the episode that I did with my husband Morgan, where we introduce the Enneagram and the nine-basic types.

See I'm a nine, if you haven't listen to any of my previous episodes and didn’t know that. And apparently nines have the lowest energy level of all of the types. Our " deadly sin" is the sloth. So I guess you could say that would be my spirit animal. It's not that I don't want to get things done, or achieve things, or be my best self, by any means. I just have a baseline energy level that is incredibly low. So in the past, I looked at exercise as a real drudgery… a total drag. I would say that I hated to exercise. That I just wasn't good at it. I wasn't a runner. I didn't enjoy it. And all of those negative things that if you say you don't like to exercise, you're probably familiar with.

Now I have had times in my life when I have exercised, but they have been very short spurts like six months at the most. And then I would start to listen to that niggling little voice saying that would say: I really don't wanna have to get up and do that today. And one day would lead to two and 2 to 4 and 4 to 8 and so on and so on. ad infinitum.

The problem is, exercise is super important, especially especially for nines.

I was listening to a blogger tell a story, this was a high-powered blogger and it was so long ago, I honestly cannot remember who it was so if you know who it was please pop over and send me an email or leave a comment on the show notes page and remind me who this is, but it was this guy who was really depressed, and he called a friend to reach out to him and just get some help. And one of the first things his friend asked him was, are you exercising?

And of course he wasn’t. And so after that phone call, he dedicated himself to exercising every day I think. And that brought him out of his depression. I thought about that story often. Especially when someone will tell me they're not feeling well, and my mind kind of goes to that place, are you exercising?

So during the pandemic, I was not exercising. And I could feel myself slipping deeper and deeper into disintegration, which is what the Enneagram calls being unhealthy. And I was reading father Richard roars book, and one of the things that he said that the nine really needs is, dun, dun, dun.. to exercise.

We need to get connected to our physical bodies so that we can move into health and be integrated. When I think back over my life, I remember the times when I was exercising, they were probably the times where I was I had the most mental clarity and the times where I was the most self-confident and productive too.

Now after reading that in his book, I thought about it considered that maybe he was right, that it might be a good idea… To exercise. And then, that same week I watched a video from Tim Lehue and he said the same dern thing.

And I felt like God was trying to tell me something. It was one of those moments where you just feel the whispering in your heart and you know it to be true. So that week I started exercising. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I love yoga, and I found a great yoga teacher on YouTube. Then I found some great HIIT videos. But it wasn't until I found hip-hop fit, that I really felt excited about exercising. I was also doing some kettle bells which I enjoy. But after a couple of weeks doing that, I started to get that kind of dread feeling. So I decided to put those down for a minute and just make sure I was doing something that was incredibly fun for me.

I think that when exercise is not fun, and you're like me and not someone who loves to run or do CrossFit or whatever, you might be setting yourself up for failure.

And the benefits I'm getting from exercise are too important for me to just log back into where I once was.

Now, I can still wake up in the morning and feel down, sad even, before I have exercised. Isn’t that a tough way to start your day? It's like you already have the deck stacked against you.

BUT, I found a way to deal with that and I wanna share that with you. Because if you want to exercise, you know that you need to exercise, that is so important for your health and for your mental state, and you feel the resistance, you have to find a way to work through that and get to the other side.

So there are a couple things that I do to make sure I get that exercise in at least five days a week. I have kind of set some rules for myself first:

Number one: I cannot go longer than three days without exercising. And honestly what I really mean is I need to exercise on that Thursday. There was one time that I remember specifically where I didn't exercise on Friday, on Saturday, or on Sunday. And I got up Monday and I felt terrible. I was in a horrible state mentally and I realize that I had not exercised for three full days. So that is my first rule I set for myself, but, you know, I really don't like the word rule so let's call it a tenet.

So a tenet is like a creed, doctrine, a precept. It's some thing that I am, for the rest of my life going to live by.

So on day three, I have to have to have to get my butt up and move.

Number two: it must needs be fun. Like I said a minute ago I found hip-hop fit. With Mike Peele. And it's totally amazing. He is so positive and encouraging, it makes me excited to exercise. I have no dread at all getting up to do this. I grew up in the 90s and I'm not a great dancer by any means. But I had a really great experience the summer after my junior year in high school at the governors school for the arts in Murfreesboro Tennessee. We lived in a dorm for a whole month, and at night all the girls would come down to the lobby and dance to hip hop music. And there was a really sweet girl there who took me under her wing, I really wish I could remember her name but I just can't, but taught me how to do the Roger rabbit.. And I just fell in love with dancing.

So hip-hop fit is perfect for this 90s child.

Number three: every morning when I'm in the bed before I get up I'll tell myself this: you are going to feel so much better after you exercise. So if I'm feeling kind of blah, yucky at all, feeling like I just want to come to curl up and stay in the bed, I'll tell myself that. Because it's the truth.

And telling myself the truth, telling yourself the truth, that you'll feel better after you exercise is so much better than sitting there telling yourself how hard it's going to be, or how much you don't want to do it, or how you could just take today off. And then one day leads to another day.

By consciously saying that affirmation to myself, I am being my own coach. I'm taking control of my thoughts, and aligning them with what I truly want.

So if I'm feeling any resistance at all that day, it evaporates. And I'm excited to get up and move my body.

Now we all know why we need to move our butts, for cardiovascular health, to burn calories, to strengthen our muscles. But the benefit that I get mentally, actually outweighs all of that. When I exercise my mind is clearer, I am more positive throughout the day, I have a feeling of pride in myself for doing it, and I never ever regret it.

I regret a lot of things in my life. And I've made the decision that moving forward, I don't want to continue to have regrets. And moving my body is one of the things that I want to make sure is a part of that. I want to live for many more years, and feel good in my skin, and be able to do what I want, go where I want, without any physical limitations for as long as I possibly can.

And to be able to do that, I have to take time out and do this. I'll never regret it and neither will you. But will you regret not doing it? Will you regret that you spent so much time talking yourself out of it?

So I'm here to tell you to get up, find something that you enjoy, and move your butt. Keep trying until you find something that you truly love. Something that fills you up and keeps you coming back. Even if it means you have two or three different things that you love to do and you rotate them so you never get bored.

This life that you have, that I have, it's precious. And this little change, because it really is such a small tweak, has completely revolutionized my ability to think and to do.

So that little sloth I have inside of me, it's still there. I still love to sleep in when I can. I do take days off. But according to my tenets, only two in a row max. I love to curl up in the bed and watch TV when I can. But I don't feel that way all the time anymore. I'm excited about my life. I'm excited to be here talking with you.

It's all because I'm moving my body like I never have before.

So here's my challenge to you. Try something new, if what you've tried hasn't worked in the past. Keep trying until you find it. Do it for a month. And then ask yourself, what is it worth it? If the answer is yes keep on keeping on.

Because I know the answer will be a resounding yes.

If you need some encouragement, please email me at [email protected] that’s [email protected] -t-h-e-b-o-l-d-a-b-o-d-e .com and I will cheer you on.

Thanks so much for listening! I'll catch you in the next episode.

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