SOMETIMES!
Sometimes guilt is a good thing.
Let me explain what I mean. Every week on Thursday morning I join a group of women who get fit with the help of a great trainer. Sue Abell of TreadPowerfully gets us sweating. It is an hour long workout. It is hard. This group of ladies is seriously fit and kick my butt every week. Every week I am holding down the end of the line. I am last every week but that is OK. As I have mentioned before I struggle every week. For the first thirty minutes I want to quit. Honestly, I think about how hard it is. Then the last thirty minutes I forget about quitting and really get in the zone. By the time I am finished I honestly do feel great.
That being said I will be honest most Thursday mornings I think about not going, especially on the days when the weather down right sucks. Last week was one of those days. I wasn’t feeling well and it was really cold. I seriously didn’t want to go and was already listening to that inner voice that was telling me to just sit back down on the couch. BUT this is where GUILT can be a good thing. I didn’t make it out to class the week before. The week before I was so tired I just couldn’t get motivated so I skipped class. No biggie. There was no harm in missing one class BUT missing two classes in a row was a bit much. Just the thought of missing two classes in a row was making me feel bad. So when I started to think about not going to class AGAIN the guilt kicked in. I was feeling guilty for wanting to be lazy. I was feeling guilty for not doing something good for myself. I was feeling guilty for allowing that inner voice to convince me that it was better to sit on the couch. SO, I kicked guilt to the curb and laced up my running shoes and walked over to the meeting spot. I still wasn’t convinced that I wanted to do it or that I in fact could do it because I was coming down with a cold but I did it anyway. You know it was hard. The first 30 minutes were hard and I was having that usual conversation with myself about going home but I didn’t. I stuck it out and started to feel good with the sweat and the exercise. I pushed myself and it felt good for a lot of reasons; firstly because I was actually exercising and taking one more step to a better me, secondly it was great to get out in the fresh, crisp winter air, and third it does the brain good to get out and move your body. In fact it is a total package deal… all about mind, body and spirit.
So as you can see, sometimes guilt is a good thing!
