Who do you hang out with? Spending your time around people leads to their habits rubbing off on you and yours influencing them.
So who is influencing you and the life you're trying to build? We often think about this concept relative to our faith and finances — yet we don’t think about it related to our fitness. We typically determine what activities a group of people do based on the weakest link. For many, that’s fitness related because it is the hardest to fake very long.
You can borrow money or use credit cards to hide poor financial habits. You can say the right things to convince people around you that your faith is strong and intentional. But you can’t fake your fitness. There are no substitutes or ways to hide your body’s ability to move when doing hard things.
People avoid activities that highlight their poor fitness habits because it feels like failure, and we want to avoid that emotion if possible.
Making a change to our fitness and movement habits is simple to understand and hard to apply. Our minds probably already know what to do, but we lack the internal structure or discipline to make it happen. That’s why we need to find and cultivate like minded people around us. Find ways to build friendships with people who exhibit traits, habits, and behaviors you want to learn or build.
If you have friends that don’t have the traits you’re looking for, I’m not saying drop them. Think of it as an opportunity to build a deeper relationship with them. Working on a goal with people is way better than doing it alone. Go on walks, join a group class, go to the gym and play basketball. What can’t happen is allowing others actions and habits to negatively impact your own.
There are so many ways to get moving. Pick one that interests you and invite a friend to join you so you don’t feel like you’re doing it alone. If you don’t have an existing friend who wants to work on the habits you’re doing, find a community and make a new friend.
As adults, making new friends can feel awkward and challenging. Lean into the shared goal you have of improving your fitness and movement. The people around you are probably feeling the same way you are, and they are looking for someone to make the first move.
There are so many great fitness driven communities in our area. We’ve gone to several of them ourselves in our movement journey. From personal training studios and online communities to high intensity interval training and Crossfit classes, we’ve worked hard to cultivate friends and communities that influence us to move.
Find the space that works for you with people working toward similar goals. If you’re hesitant to move because of an injury or nagging discomfort, set up a discovery call with Dr. Samantha. She can help get you moving again and provide the education and support you need to keep moving even after your specific injury is resolved. We’re also connected with a variety of gyms and fitness communities and we’d love to recommend one to you that might help you achieve your movement goals.
