A Sunday (40) in Life of a Pastor/Mother: Exercise

It may be hard to believe but this was me in college as a cheerleader. I used to also run track. It’s been about ten years since I exercised – well on purpose. Exercising used to be such a part of my identity and I remember the day in the doctor’s office when I actually had to check off the “no” box when asked if I exercise regularly.

I have a myriad of reasons or excuses to why I stopped and don’t make time to exercise:

For one, I am just lazy. Although I am a busy person, I can lay in bed all day if given the chance.

I also have a good metabolism, which I need to thank my mother for passing that gene down to me. It wasn’t until she turned 50 that I noticed her metabolism really slowing down. So in an effort to prolong exercising, I convinced myself that I don’t need to start until I turn 50. (I know this is not true, but it doesn’t take much to convince yourself to not exercise.)

I am too busy – serving a church, spending time with my husband, being a mother. Again, another bad excuse. As a pastor/mother, it is already difficult to protect family time and have a date day with your husband. To carve out more time for oneself, let alone to exercise, seems burdensome.

And lastly, I’m Asian. I know this logic doesn’t make sense, but go with me on this. It is a general “fact” that Asians age well. My mom is in her mid-60’s and she looks incredible. I can only pray that she passed down that gene to me as well. However, I always wondered how Asians age because while my mother looks quite young in her 60’s, I remember my grandmother looking quite – raisin-y. Is that an adjective? Seriously, it was like my grandmother shrunk. It wasn’t until I saw this comic strip that I began to understand the aging process of Asian women.

As legitimate or not legitimate as these excuses may be, in the end, it comes down to me not making exercise a priority and making the time to take care of myself. And while I would like to say that putting myself first is the main motivation for me wanting to exercise ten years before I was planning on it, it really came down to this one conversation with my baby girl: while poking my belly, “Seriously mom, who do you have in there?”

I’ve completed step one: bought running shoes and clothes. I am now on step two: downloading good music to run to. Assuming I skip step three, procrastination, you may see me running by in your neighborhood.