Some say that people really learn to grow up during their college years. Personally, I think that’s a bunch crap. College is intended to be fun and class is what you do in your spare time. Yeah, you have to deal with commitments, priorities, all your teachers intentionally scheduling all exams on the same week, and outside sources of stress (I.E. family issues, personal issues, having to find out where the best party is at, etc.). However during those years, the structure of the environment hinders your ability to be tested on a personal note as your exams ALWAYS have a right answer, and unfortunately most of the greatest issues we deal with in life have none..........I had to this the hard way.
I would be lying if I told you my transition immediately following college was easy. I was forced to change the routine I had perfected and was forced to bid my farewell to the carefree, easy-going life I once had. No longer was I able to spend countless hours at the gym, or just hanging out with friends.
As the supply of my free time was now scarce, I had millions of reasons as to why it's okay for me to not spend time at the gym and work out. However, somewhere in between my 14 hour work days that consisted of me sitting at a desk, and the endless supply of brownies, M&M’s, Snickers, cupcakes, Skittles, Starburst and cookies that exist in audit rooms, I realized I had to change my ways. If not, the consequences could be damaging to my personal health. This is when I made the following promise to myself:
“I don’t care how many hours I work the day before, or how scarce time truly Is, nothing is going to stop me from waking up every day and going to the gym. I may not be able to spend multiple hours anymore, so that means I have to go as hard as possible for the 45 minutes to an hour I do have.”
Prior to making this promise to myself I was NEVER a morning person. However as I never knew what time I’m going to get home, but did know what time I was going to be waking up, morning workouts were the only option to build consistency.
The results of this promise have been great. I feel better physically than I ever have before, although I still sit behind a desk up to 12-13 hours a day on many occasions. And I encourage you to do the same. We all have priorities, we all have time constraints and we all can make a million excuses. However, the beautiful thing about personal fitness is that no one else can do it for you. You just have to get up and do it. And I promise you that with time the 'forced' feeling you get will diminish and your routine will become a habit.
Lastly, this is NOT a promise that I made to please other people and I hope it's the same for you. Instead this was just my reaction after I was confronted with a problem that had no ‘right’ answer and this is something I didn’t have to deal with in college.
But this is just my unqualified opinion….
