Today was cardio at the gym.
Got in my steps just before the snow began falling.
As you all know, several years ago I decided it was time to use fitness to improve my life rather than it becoming my life. My new routine would need to be low injury risk and include running because I wasn't going to let memes keep me from what I enjoy. It should assist me with my goals of surfing, mountaineering, and family. Above all, it should not take away from my number one priority, which is to use my teaching gifts to train others how to read their Bible with accuracy and joy.
Fitness can improve your life instead of controlling it. "Do more of what makes you happy" may seem like an overly simplistic explanation, but we so often don't do what makes up happy. Instead, our culture tells us to do what gives us short-term gratification (food, sex, drugs, booze) and we deny ourselves the really substantive things in life that ultimately provide longer term growth and peace of mind. "Do more of what makes you happy" is a reminder to treat yourself with respect, be good to your body, and give yourself permission to live your life to its fullest. No gimmicks. No pills. No shortcuts. No tricky diet plan. Just consecration, dedication, and discipline. It won't happen overnight, and if you give up it won't happen at all. Losing weight is not about losing weight. It's about mindset. Get the right mindset and the weight melts away.
To all of you reading this: Being an athlete, any kind of athlete, is a way of life that gives more back to you than you invest. You have been released from a life of sedentary confinement.