Fitness is fleeting.  Trends come and go.  Motivation waxes and wanes. Guilt and shame often dominate our body issues.  Getting motivated to be fit is not the problem, it’s adrenaline driven.  Actually doing it is f&$#ing hard.  That’s the problem.

But why? Really, why don’t we just do what we know is good for us?

Many of us are suffering from what I like to call ‘fitness vision’.  There is a cure people and it’s within your reach if you are ready for it.

When I think of fitness, I see images of beautiful tan people with bright white teeth and abs that you can actually see.  It motivates me to think about going out for a run, but it’s not enough to make me actually do it.  You see, that vision of fitness isn’t me.  In the end, that vision of fitness makes me feel like that will never be me, so why bother.  I’m not down on fitness, I actually own a ‘fitness’ company.

I prefer to think in terms of vitality rather than fitness.  When I see through the lens of vitality the world comes into focus.

Vitality is lasting and more forgiving.  Vitality is the power to live and grow.

Vitality is deep.  Fitness is superficial.

As a rogue Physical Therapist, owner of Berkshire Fitness Company and total psycho-spiritual nerd, I will let you in on a little secret.  If you struggle with sticking to an exercise routine (or any routine for that matter) and you want that to change, you have to be utterly and completely honest with yourself: you are making lame excuses. Yes, I said it.  Stop making lame excuses.

I’ll let you in on a little secret.  The people who come in to the studio all jazzed up talking about “finally getting fit”, don’t last.  I can see it in their eyes, they have the ‘fitness vision’ and they won’t be back.  When we bump into each other at the pub, they will sheepishly look away or talk very quickly about how busy life is and that they are dying to get back in.  If they keep looking in the mirror with ‘fitness vision’, they won’t be back.

Seriously, who has time for that?

A few years ago, I was so far off track I didn’t even know where the track was.  My story is not atypical.  I’m a mom, I was married and I was working.  When I look back, it’s clear that I had put myself on auto-pilot.  At the time, nothing was clear and not much thought went into anything but getting the kids to school, figuring out who was doing pickup, attempting to not live in a cluttered mess and  hopefully remembering to pay the bills on time.

A few days in a row of getting to the gym after conceding to buy the next size up in my jeans never stuck.  There were too many other things to draw my attention away.  Things like, The Real Housewives of any City or County, ‘deserving’ a glass of wine (or two) while making dinner and staying in bed until the last possible second before starting all over again.

My auto-pilot life had it’s rewards.  I became an expert at staying comfortable.  Just filling the days and nights up with things to avoid navigating the world without any thought or purpose was easy.  To say that it wasn’t gratifying would imply that I was thinking on a level where that would have even occurred to me.  I was not.

Fast forward a few years and I still get distracted, but it doesn’t throw me off my track.  I know where my track is now.

“Am I doing this right?” “How does it feel?”

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