What To Do With Old Sneakers

What to do with old sneakers

This morning was a "Calgon, take me away" morning!

I had early tele-health calls scheduled, a crew was coming to put insulation in my attic, and my daughter needed medication for strep throat. Fortunately, a few calls canceled leaving me a space to go to the pharmacy to pick up the medication. I got there and they didn't open for another half hour!

"I have so much to do, Ugh!!" were my first thoughts.

Then I realized I didn't have time for my usual walk this morning. And I have sneakers in the car!

Each time I get new sneakers, I put the old pair in the back of my car. This has saved me many times when out and wanting to take a spontaneous walk.

But there is one more thing I use besides those sneaks that makes all the difference.

I don't walk to get steps. I don't walk to burn calories. I don't walk even to try to calm down.

I walk to be present, to feel what was going on inside my whole person.

Why?

Because before I could calm down or exercise could benefit my body or brain, I had to be in the well state. This is not the state when all is going the way you want. If that was being well, the way things were going, I would have had very little chance to be well today.

Being well starts by trusting what you know inside. Before we can fix anything for our health, we need to be well.

And to be well we have to feel.

Yet, our cultural approaches to exercise ask us to ignore how we feel. It tells us to just get through, check the exercise box so we can move on with our day. It tells us the workout is about getting to a future goal.

Exercise has become a practice of distraction rather than connection.

Walking to check the exercise box this morning would have taken me further from being well now. Sure I would have accomplished a fitness goal, but I would have been burnt out of trying to get things done by the time afternoon rolled around.

Walking to feel what was going on in my body allowed me to notice the thoughts running through my head, feel the sack of emotions coursing through my muscles and most importantly, remember my Core Why.

Nothing changes without awareness. With that whole person awareness, of not just my thoughts and to do list, but my body and heart, allowed me to see it clearly. Moving my body with my Core Why as my motived changed the thoughts that were perpetuating my stress state.

It was moving with whole person presence that changed my thoughts to ones that were more friendly and supportive. It allowed me to see the gift of this thirty minute waiting time. I got to walk in the sunshine with the breeze on my skin and reorientate to my Core Why.

The best part was, I still have energy at the end of a busy and chaotic day.

I was walking around a parking lot, but it was as peaceful as walking on the beach because I was present, not to what was around me but to what was within me.

Messages about exercise in the media cause us to think we need to disconnect from our body, work past pain, push it harder, get over resistance and fatigue in order to get the results.

That could not be further from the truth for those of us who want to be healthy and well. If you want to be an successful as an athlete or military professional, yes, you need to push through to compete and win and survive. But when we want to be whole person healthy, we need to listen, to feel first so we can hear our inner guides to thrive.

When you are wondering what to do with your old sneakers, put them in your car, or under your desk at work, or anywhere else you inhabit where you can find yourself in a stress state.

But don't forget to also pack your presence and kindness inside too!

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Do you have chronic pain or a chronic condition that makes exercise feel hard from the start? There is another way. It starts with your Core Why and its free. Click here to find your Core Why and you are on your way to move to Be Well Now.