Running intuitively and without "shoulds"

I used to think of exercise as a “should”. Something I should do because I’d been told by people who know more than me about it, that it was good for me and would keep me healthy. Something I should do in order to have an attractive body. Something I should do to “relieve stress” or “get me in a better mood for the day”. The trouble was that when I thought of it as a “should”, it was quite joyless and often didn’t go very well.

Here are some of the “shoulds” I used to attach to running:

I should run regularly because it’s good exercise, healthy and keeps my body in shape. I should make an exercise schedule and stick to it. If I keep my schedule, I should reward myself (may have involved eating something unhealthy). If I break my schedule, I should beat myself up for it (may also have involved eating something unhealthy). I should get a running buddy. I should join a running club. I should enter races to motivate me to train for them. I should run longer distances because that’s more of an achievement. I should be enjoying running more than I am.

And here’s how it looks these days: I absolutely love running. I feel really alive when I’m running. I love running 5km – that distance suits me really well both because of the shorter time it takes and the way I can run it. I love to listen to music while I run, music with a tempo that I can really get going to and use it as my own sort of HIIT training, semi-sprinting at the high tempo bits and so on. “Take Me To Church” by Hozier and “Into the Unknown” by Idina Menzel are on my current playlist.

I love running on my own, because for me it’s a place where I can easily land in a lovely feeling of oneness (similar to in meditation), and also a place where I have some of my best ideas – the sort of ideas that just appear out of nowhere when there’s nothing in particular on my mind.

These days I’d say I’m running intuitively. I love that I’m in my forties and have never been fitter.

Dropping “shoulds” and living more intuitively in general is another beautifully fun and relaxing result of seeing the inside out nature of my experience.

If you’re curious about this, stay tuned, because in the coming weeks and months I’ll be sharing more about the inside out understanding.

#insideout #intuitiveexercise #running #fitness #noneedforshould