Article Written by: JANE GRATES
A sports lover and a professional hiking enthusiast. Acting at the nexus of simplicity and elegance to craft an inspiring, compelling and authentic narrative.
Research has shown that most people are inclined to begin their exercise routines, diet modifications, and overall, big lifestyle changes at pretty predictable intervals, such as at the beginning of a new year, on a Monday, or right after their birthday. The thinking goes that we gravitate towards “clean breaks” of time like those milestones because we’re evolutionarily predisposed to. There’s something to be said about starting a new habit on the beginning of a new month, week, year, or age instead of on some random mid-week day or in the middle of the year.
That’s all well and good, but the reality is that really, the best day to start to change your life for the better is today, right now.
Why wait until next Monday, or the first day of the next month, or on your birthday to begin implementing big changes to your life? Rationally, we all know that we’re not guaranteed to be here any day in the future, so why bother taking the chance?
If you’re currently in a slump with your exercise routine or better yet, altogether don’t yet have an exercise routine but want to get started, read on. I’ll describe in more detail why today’s the best day to start exercising, even if you’re reading this on a random Wednesday, in the middle of the month, part-way through the year.
Today’s as good a day as any to begin to change your life. You might as well, after all. You’ve got everything to gain from the change and really nothing to lose.
Some additional reasons as to why today’s the best day to start exercising include the following:
You’re here, alive, and reading this right now. This is obvious, but you’re not guaranteed that you’ll be here tomorrow. Anything can happen at any given time — life has a crazy way of keeping us on our toes sometimes, doesn’t it? — and I think this sense of urgency should compel all of us to live our lives as fully as we can each and every day simply because we may not be here the next day.
It’s never too late or too early to start. Sometimes people think that if they’ve been sedentary or unhealthy their whole lives that they’re then relegated to that way of living for the rest of their days. Not so! Studies have shown repeatedly, for example, that even if you’ve smoked cigarettes your entire life, if you stop, you’ll be able to recoup some of the damage you’ve done. The same goes with exercise; even if you haven’t exercised your entire life, if you begin today, you can begin to forge a healthier future for yourself. Every little bit helps and can make you a little healthier than you were yesterday.
Strike when the willpower is hot. As humans, our motivation comes and goes. Sometimes we’ll be really interested in something, and other times, not so much; it’s part of being human. If the urge to get healthy strikes you, heed its call! Even if you go out and exercise — walk, lift weights, chase your kids, whatever — for ten minutes today, that’s laudable. Capitalize on your motivation when its at its peak, and work subsequently to create systems in place to help guarantee your success.
You literally have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Finally, when the decision strikes you to begin working out, you will literally have nothing to lose and everything to gain from heeding its directive. There’s really no point for you to wait until a new day, a new month, a new year, or a new week rolls around because realistically, anything can happen between now and then. There’s really no reason to wait or delay; your health will thank you if you don’t, actually.
It’s my sincerest hope that the reasons above describe the urgency that you should have when you decide that you want to begin exercising. So many people think that it’s better or easier to wait to begin a new habit like exercising, and it’s with good reason; as humans, we gravitate toward “clean breaks” and “new beginnings.” However, these time breaks are all arbitrary, of course, and our health doesn’t know any different; our bodies can’t distinguish from the first of a new month any differently than it can for some random Tuesday afternoon in the last quarter of the year.
Take the plunge and get started today — strike when the iron is hot! — and your body and your health alike will both be glad you did.
