Making Time

Before I started this year-long commitment, I had not consistently gotten exercise in a very long time. The reason, at least the reason I told myself, was that I simply didn't have the time. I realize now that this was untrue, and I think it's this understanding that will make all the difference for me.

The reality is, I've always made time for things less important than fitness. In the mornings, I always had time to watch Sports Center while leisurely eat my sugary breakfast cereal. I've shown great discipline in always making time to watch two to three hours of television at night after work. For the last year, I've even found the time to carve out three hours every Wednesday night to lead the Temple Movie Club (If you aren't going, you should be).

It's not that these things are bad (maybe the sugary cereal part). All this is simply to say that I do have time. It's a question of how I prioritize and spend that time.

My approach so far has been to wake up thirty minutes earlier and work out before my wife and daughter get out of bed. As I have been working out using a DVD these last few days, the early morning schedule has the benefit of shielding me from possible derision at the silly moves I'm no doubt making.

I don't know if I'll be using this morning hours to get my sweat on for the rest of this year. My guess would be that life will continue to change and demand that I make adjustments and changes to my daily ritual. The difference is that from now on, I know there is time for be to make healthy living a priority.

I'm grateful, too, that along with my living room workouts, the Summit Family Fitness Center is open most days from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.. Those hours are shorter on Friday and weekends, but those aren't the days that I run out of time.