Welcome to Found Notes.
Every week I use found poetry to turn personal notes into poetic insights about living freely, creating bravely and thinking deeply. More than answers, I hope our time together leads you to helpful questions about the ways you move through the world.
A Reflection on Standards
For the last three years, my weekly standard has been to workout three times a week. Normally this has meant a 60-minute full body routine that doesn’t kill me timewise. Unfortunately, the manageable nature of my fitness routine doesn’t prevent the part of me that dislikes working out from occasionally groaning, “Why do we have to do this?”
I’m a disciplined person but the eternal teenager in me doesn’t want to hear, “Because it’s good for us.” He’s the pleasure-seeking type, so instead I respond, “I’m not feeling this either. What if we do a shorter workout so we can get done sooner? I’m thinking 10 minutes.”
And then boom, like magic, my comfort seeking side is appeased and I’m able to find the mental clarity to show up. Sometimes I uphold my end of the bargain and leave after 10 minutes and sometimes being in the gym is enough motivation for me to do my normal routine.
Approaching fitness this way has taught me that my expectations for myself matter but they don’t supersede my humanity. Even if half the content I come across online says they should.
I’m not superhuman.
I‘m learning that expectations for myself don’t supersede my humanity.
Actions set standards.
We set the standards for our way of being. Our actions reaffirm or reset those standards.
Standards matter. As does love.
The standards we set for ourselves matter. As does our ability to reset those standards to love ourselves well.
*I’m not one for shirtless pics so I’ll just say the fitness approach mentioned above has worked out well for me (in case you were wondering about its validity) 😝
**I asked my wife if I should include the * above. After spitting out her water she said yes 🤣
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