For some people the thought of beginning an exercise program can be a very dark and fearful thing. Enough so, that it prevents them from ever taking that first step into the light of living a fit and healthy lifestyle.
To be honest, I’ve been into fitness my entire adult life, so I never thought of exercise as something to be afraid of. But, after many conversations over the years, I can tell you that the fear is real — that there is such a thing as “exercise phobia”.
And because I now understand how paralyzing that fear can be, I wanted to bring it out in the open, here, today; to let those of you with a fear of exercise know that you are not alone. That your fear is shared by many others, who just like you would like to overcome that fear but don’t know how.
Now for those of you wondering what’s so scary about exercising, try to see things from the perspective that you are an overweight, out of shape person with no exercise experience, and worse yet, no confidence in your physical abilities. With that in mind, it’s easy to understand how someone might fear getting embarrassed. That regardless of whether you choose to go to a gym or take a walk around the block, you’re afraid that people will be staring or talking about you as you walk by. There’s also the fear of looking foolish for not knowing how to use the gym equipment, or the fear of being the only one in a group class that doesn’t know how to do the exercises.
While these are all legitimate fears or concerns, they are also things I believe most of us have felt (to some degree) as a new member of a gym, or during those first walks around our neighborhood. But then, after the short period of time it takes us to get settled in, become less of a concern.
Unfortunately, though, for some, their fear of exercise stems from something more internal, like the fear of failure. Such as “what if I put all this effort into losing weight and I’m not successful” or “what if, when I do begin to lose weight, people will notice and begin to have higher expectations of me than I have of myself…can I live up to that?”, ”what if I am successful?…how will people treat me differently…why would they treat me differently?”, or “being successful will draw attention, and I don’t want to draw attention to myself!”.
There is also the fear of being successful and not being able to maintain it, so you have the fear of the “old you” coming back to haunt you, and you begin to question whether you could forgive yourself for letting that happen.
The truth is, when you look at fitness through the eyes of someone who has never been fit, things can look pretty scary. If fact, I now understand why some people will make the statement “I need to lose a few pounds first, then I’ll join the gym” or “I’m definitely going to hire a trainer, but I have to lose some weight first”
The reasoning behind both statements is that if you lose weight first, you won’t draw as much attention to yourself, and it makes you feel safer. Sadly though, more often than not, the first part never happens, and you end up being stuck where you’re at; not wanting to go backwards but afraid to move forward…so what do you do?
Well, the fact is, you are the only person who can answer that. You must look at the pros and cons of your current situation and decide which is the lesser of the two challenges.
By choosing to stay where you’re at, (your comfort zone), you’ll feel safe and avoid the fears of exercise and all the “what ifs”.
However, if you do that, you will continue to struggle with all the challenges associated with being overweight and out of shape — something you know all too well, and something you are really wanting to change.
On the other hand, you can choose to move forward where the challenge is going to be facing your fears — meeting them head-on by stepping outside your comfort zone, but into a future that you control! A future that can exist only if you let it. And the only future where your dreams of a healthier and happier you can become a reality.
Now of course facing your fears is not an easy thing to do, but it may be easier than living with the regret of never having tried. Which brings us to the end of today’s message and a quote from author, Judy Blume.
“Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.” ~ Judy Blume
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