“After I had Malia, I began to prioritize exercise because I realized that my happiness is tied to how I feel about myself.  I want my girls to see a mother who takes care of herself, even it that means I have to get up at 4:30 so I can do a workout.”

Oprah replied: When you first told me that a few years ago, I was like, “You get up at 4:30 to work out?”

Michelle responded: “Well, I just started thinking, if I had to get up to go to work, I’d get up and go to work.  If I had to get up to take care of my kids, I’d get up to do that.  But when it comes to yourself, then it’s suddenly, Oh, I can’t get up at 4:30.  So I had to change that.  If I don’t exercise, I won’t feel good.”

Michelle Obama’s comments really hit me where I live.  I know exercise helps me feel better physically and mentally, and yet I don’t carve out the time to do it.  But, the strongest point she made to me is about her girls seeing a mom who takes care of herself.  I always thought being a good mom meant putting everyone else ahead of myself, all the time.  Now, I’m learning how much more I have to give when I take better care of myself.  I want my girls to see the same thing!

Dear Reader:

Your thoughts?

I love the idea of rewarding myself for achieving a goal, no matter how small, on the way to a regular exercise routine.  We trained our puppy the same way and it worked like a charm, so why not me?! 

At the risk of making you dizzy with this line of thinking, here’s the next round of excuses: identifying my reward AND giving myself permission to take it.  For example, my husband won a massage as a door prize at his company holiday party last year, and promptly gave the certificate to me.  Here is is, 6 months later, and the certificate sits in my file, unredeemed.  So, even when I can identify the reward, I have trouble giving myself permission to take it.  In a round about way, I can use the lack of an identified reward as a way to put off exercising one more day.  One more excuse!  Yikes.

I know all the reasons why I should, but I resist it, put other tasks ahead of it and basically avoid it everyday until late in the evening and who wants to get all sweaty and worked up so close to bedtime anyway?

The pool in our neighborhood is open, and back in the chill of winter I suggested to myself that it’d be a good idea to start swimming regularly.  So now my pledge to get in shape is staring me straight in the face, and so far I’ve done a good job of avoiding it.  I mentioned my idea of swimming to my 8-year-old, and she reminds me of it every time she asks to go to the pool.   Perhaps since I’ve done such a good job of ignoring my own conscience on this issue, life has sent me my daughter to take up the charge!

So, Dear Reader, help me out!  How do you get motivated to exercise?  What type of exercise works well for you?  Tell me your secrets and help me join you in a daily sweaty routine of health!