In recent days, it has become glaringly apparent that if I neglect to set aside time to exercise, everything else suffers. After all, the body is our vehicle in the world, and just like a car, it needs to be started and taken out for a spin around the block from time to time. Or else.
Being a writer by trade requires that I sit on my butt for long periods of time. It is also far too easy to get caught up in the mental landscape and completely forget about my physical landscape. That pattern might work for a day, or even two, but at that point the body begins to send subtle messages, like, “Gee, things are starting to hurt and I feel kinda crappy. Why is that?” Not listening to the first subtle messages only leads to new, louder prompts, until it is no longer possible to continue existing in that same pattern of neglect. Three days without exercise? Let me tell you, it isn’t pretty.
Happily, there are many benefits to moving the body. For one, the subtle or not-so-subtle messages cease. While I can’t necessarily detail the entire biochemical process that occurs with exercise, it does feel good. I sleep better. And hey, my brain even works better, which is a big plus. I’m probably even nicer.
Humans were not meant to be stationary creatures- after all, what are all these moving parts for? Moving, of course. For thousands of years and thousands of generations, we have chopped wood, carried water, lugged around food, stone, teepees, babies and a host of other things. It’s only in the last generation or so that we’ve begun to change those patterns. However, we do so at our own peril.
It’s not a price I can afford to pay.
