I feel like a bit of a broken record constantly reminding folks of this, but it’s important. Take what you need from this essay and leave the rest. This is my story of movement and exercise, and while I have no idea what the best movement practice looks like for you, I know that punishing ourselves for not moving like someone else moves is not helpful. The goal is to figure out what works for you. Period. Take what you need and leave the rest.
I want to take some time today to share how I care for my body through movement. To begin, I do that in my word choices. Words create worlds. The word “exercise” stopped working for me a while ago. It feels like it’s been taken from us and then sold back to us at too high of a price. Exercise feels like some external expectation. Instead, I prefer the words “movement” or “working out.” My body is meant to move. She loves to move. Movement is one of the ways that I care for my body.
I invite you to try on new words to describe your own movement or exercise practice. How does each word feel? Where does it originate? Is it useful?
My word of the year for 2024 is “incremental,” and that has long been true of how I move. In 2016, after sustaining a concussion, I could barely move at all. I went from running a few miles most days of the week to barely being able to take a slow walk around the block. After several months, my stamina hadn’t improved much at all. I was then diagnosed with a neurological condition called POTS, or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. I’ve had it most of my life, but it was intensified by the concussion. The current thinking, since there’s a strong link between long COVID and POTS, is that POTS is actually post-viral. Some childhood virus attacked my autonomic nerves and now my autonomic nervous system is…unique.
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