‘Oh, I’m strictly a nerd. Thus, I’m actually obliged to refrain from exercise.’
For many years now, I’ve been guilty of using this line or something similar to justify the lack of exercise in my life. Though the truth may or may not simply be that I’m too busy or lazy to be bothered with exercise, I’ve found it more fulfilling, and more humourous at times, to suggest that my lack of exercise is due to my fitting into the stereotype often associated with bookish people like myself. This stereotype is quite untrue, however- I’m sure we all know people who excel in athletics just as much as they do in academics, and so while my excuse may invoke a couple of chuckles, it cannot be used as a legitimate reason to avoid exercise.
In fact, I can no longer avoid exercise (ironically because of the IB nerd that I am). Though IB students may commonly be seen as kids who do naught but study, there actually is this pesky little thing called CAS (creativity, ACTION, service) that we have to fulfill in the event that we actually want our IB diploma. If you haven’t already heard IB kids (especially desperate grade 12s like myself) complain about this, you will, and trust me, you will tire of it, so I suppose I’ll move on.
The reality is, exercise is necessary for all of us to live a healthy life. Whether we like it or not, we need to take care of our bodies in order to live the way we want to (not to mention eat the food we want to), and so we are all obliged to incorporate at least a little exercise into our daily lives. I like to think that my brain is my favourite part of my body, as it’s where my being is largely centred, and the idea of losing it truly terrifies me. Knowing this, I’ve tried to motivate myself to exercise by telling myself my brain depends on it. Sadly, this alone hasn’t quite inspired me to exercise, and really, it’s only now that I have no choice due to CAS that I’m seriously looking to get involved in athletics. I’m actually quite grateful that now I have to exercise though, and I hope that not only will I start strongly now, but I will also continue to exercise for a long time.
Another idea I’d like to discuss is that of inspiration. I was inspired to exercise for my brain’s sake- but I didn’t do it. I was inspired to become a strong athlete when I saw strong athletes compete in shows such as American Ninja Warrior- but I didn’t. There have been so many places from which I could draw inspiration to exercise, and yet my own reluctance to do so led me away from it, no matter the strength of the inspiration. Even if I did begin doing a few sit-ups a day for a short period of time, I gave up soon after, and so it appears that my nature really is to avoid exercise. I wonder, then, just how much people can really do to make themselves start an activity they don’t want to do, and just how much power we really have to motivate ourselves to start.
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But of course, this isn’t something to just think about and do nothing on- I have, after all, seen many people successfully motivate themselves to begin exercising. My dwelling on the matter is another sort of excuse I use to procrastinate exercising… so I guess I might as well get started!
This article was really funny and super well written!
Thanks so much!!! I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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