top of page
Search

Episode 19: Make Time to Move

Writer's picture: Tina BoogrenTina Boogren

Description: This episode invites educators to prioritize their physical wellness by scheduling movement into their calendars, embracing the "all or something" mindset, and celebrating even small steps toward consistency.


Resources: The Educator Wellness Plan Book and Journal is available through Amazon, Marzano Resources, or Solution Tree. 180 Days of Physical Wellness for Busy Educators is also available through Amazon, Marzano Resources, or Solution Tree.


Listen Now:



 

Transcription: Hi, and welcome to Self-Care for Educators. I am your host, Tina Boogren, and this is episode 19 of season 5.  And this week's invitation comes straight out of my latest book, which is 180 Days of Physical Wellness and I am actually, I just kind of opened the book to see what I landed on and I happened to land on week three. And this invitation is all about scheduling physical movement in our calendar. And then actually doing it. 


So here's the invitation. Um, it's literally that- it is scheduling physical movement in our calendar. Here's what we know. Um, this is very true for me and so I'm assuming it's true for a whole lot of us, is if we put something in our calendar, it actually gets done. And so what I want you to do, especially if you're listening to this, when it comes out on Sunday is I want you to open up your calendar.


If you are like me, you haven't. actual paper planner calendar. If you have a digital calendar, that is fantastic as well. But I want you to open up your planner, your calendar. Maybe you even have the educator wellness calendar that we created that I hope you have. Any old calendar will do. Anyway, I want you to open up your calendar. I want you to look ahead to this week and I want you to think about- when are you going to be able to get some movement in? And I want you to write it in your calendar. And here's what I want you to think about- when you're going to start? When are you going to stop? And what are you going to do?


And I want you to remember that we're going to really think about the whole theme of this book, The 180 Days of Physical Wellness, is embracing that all or something mentality. Most of us, myself included, get real stuck in that all or nothing. We may look at our calendar and we think- Oh my gosh, this week is crazy. There's just no time for it. You know, if we're used to getting in a full 30 minute workout and we look at our calendar and we're like, I don't have 30 minutes anywhere. We think, yeah, forget it. It's just not going to happen. Instead, I want us to really think about- what is that all or something mentality that we can utilize that allows us to find those moments where we can do something?


So maybe we don't have a full 30 minutes. Do we have 10 minutes in between a meeting that we can just go for a walk? That doesn't even require us to change clothes. Maybe we change shoes. Maybe we don't even change shoes, we are just going to go for a walk. Maybe we got to drop kids off at whatever their sporting events are, their practice, their whatever. And instead of just sitting in our car or sitting in the bleachers, waiting, watching, doing whatever, while they're practicing, we're going to go walk the hallway of wherever they are. We're going to commit to that. We're going to put it in the calendar. So we remember to actually do it and we're going to make sure that it happens.


Maybe we look at our calendar and we have more time this week, and we're like, okay, I am actually going to go to the rec center. I'm going to put it in my calendar. I'm going to go to the rec center. And because I know that I am going to go, I am going to plan ahead. I'm going to pack my bag so that I have my clothes. I'm going to change clothes at school so that I can go directly to the rec center. Cause we all know that for most of us, if we have to go home and change clothes and get back into the car to go to the rec center. Forget it. The minute I come home and those shoes come off- oh, it is way too hard, especially when it is cold and it is dark and it is the end of January. There is no way once I have gone home that I'm going back out. So all of those like tips and strategies and things that we know to trick our brain come into play here when we think about putting things in our calendar. 


We know that there's a lot of research behind this. So I want to remind us, I mean, I don't have to remind us, you know this, but I'm going to say it again of how essential physical movement is to our overall health. Both physical, obviously, but mental as well. We know that depression and anxiety appear to be influenced by physical exercise and that physical activity is shown to help with our sleep. So we know that when it comes to these core components of our physical wellness, they all overlap in these incredible ways. So if we're having trouble sleeping and so many of us are, getting a little bit of movement can be a really great way to help with that. 


And it's hard because we don't necessarily want to. If we're not sleeping very well, We're probably a little bit low on energy and if we're low on energy, we're not feeling super motivated to go move our bodies. And yet that's one of the greatest things that we can go do for ourselves.  


So let me just kind of summarize all this. We know that if something is important to us, it generally goes on the calendar. We put our doctor's appointments, we put games, matches, performances, vacations, meetings on the calendar because we know that if we don't do that, it's really easy to miss them. And so physical movement is as important as those kinds of other obligations. And so we're going to schedule those just like we do those other things.


This signals to our brain that physical movement is a priority.  If we just wait until we have time for physical movement, we may never actually find that time. So instead, we're going to schedule it and we're going to force ourselves to make the time. When we do this, we are setting ourselves up for consistency and thus working towards establishing that new habit of incorporating movement into our week on a consistent basis. And consistency is key. the key.  


Just so you know, the general recommendation for exercise or movement is at least 150 minutes per week. So we can break that down, a lot of different ways, but it's really kind of simple to think of it as about 20 minutes each day of the week. Now make it work for you. If 20 minutes a day feels good, do that. If longer sessions on the weekend feel better for you, do that. You can always, remember, dial this up or dial it down as needed. 


So what I want you to do is I want you to grab your calendar, digital, paper, whatever it is, and start scheduling your movement for the week. Decide when you're going to start, when you're going to end, add it up, see if you can get to that 150 minutes per week and what you're going to do during that time. Are you going to do a class?  Are you going to do some stretching? Are you going to do cardio? Are you going to do strength training? Are you going to do it with a friend? Are you going to do it on your own? What are you going to do?  And I want you to put it in your calendar. 


If you can dial it up, great. Dial it up. Do more than 150 minutes. If that feels overwhelming, dial it down. Aim for just one day. Just mark on your calendar one day, you're going to move your body one day. Maybe it's just 10 minutes and we're going to celebrate that. That is all good. You do you. We are so proud of you. Whatever you get done this week, that is perfect. You are perfect.


I am cheering so stinking hard for you. Make it an amazing week, you guys. Feel my hand on your back as you do this. Know that you are amazing. You can do hard things, even in January when it is cold and dark, you can do this. Put it on your calendar. You can do this. Go get it done. Go get it done right now. Make it happen. 


Oh, it's going to be a great week. You guys. Um, as always, we are so stinking grateful for Adrienne.  Thank you for all you do to help us get this out to the people. Thank you to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources for this job I get to do. And to you, my badass self-care squad, go make it a great week. Go move your body. You've got this.  


20 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Kommentarer


bottom of page