When you live in Manitoba, it tends to get a little chilly from December-March (or sometimes May…).
I used to be one of those people that would fight it. I would despise the winter months, yearning for a day of warmth and sunshine. Grumbling to myself as I brush the 2 feet of snow off my car, I would tell myself to just close my eyes and “get through it”.
That all changed a few years ago.
I decided that instead of fighting winter, which was coming every year whether I liked it or not, I would instead embrace it and find something I enjoyed doing for the cold, snowy months. Something I could look forward to instead of just trying to get through another winter, wasting 4-6 months of my life every year being miserable due to the weather.
It used to be snowboarding. I would go out a few times every winter with friends to spend the day on the hills (which in Manitoba are very hard to come by…). But over the years, it’s shifted to a different, more “Manitoba-friendly” kind of winter activity – cross country skiing.
Yesterday was one of the days I look forward to every winter. A day when I go cross country skiing with one of my closest friends.
We took off the day to a beautiful ski trail in rural Manitoba, almost 2 hours from Winnipeg. The weather was perfect, sun was shining and the trails wonderfully groomed. We got out in the morning, so it was still very quiet and we had the entire area largely to ourselves for most of the day.
When we stopped to have lunch, we were talking and my friend reminded me of something I had mentioned to her a couple years back on this same skiing day. Something that had stuck with her.
This is what I had told her…
I want my level of fitness to be at a point where if someone said, ‘Hey let’s go do…’ whatever – a hike, skiing, run a 5km race, bike somewhere – I’d be able to do it without thinking twice. One of my biggest fears is missing out on experiences due to a lack of strength or general fitness.
I had forgotten I’d said this to her, but when she reminded me I realized that this was the entire philosophy Blue Phoenix Fitness is built around. To eat better, move better and think better so that you have a level of health and fitness such that you can do the things you want to do in your life.
Using fitness to enhance your life.
For me, that’s being able to do things like cross country skiing for an entire day without feeling completely wiped or roller blading on a summer day or playing beach volleyball in Mexico in a few weeks.
For you it might be totally different. Maybe it’s running around and playing with your kids or grandkids. Maybe it’s something as simple as not being winded going up and down the stairs at work or go for a bike ride with your kids in the summer.
Whatever you enjoy doing, I promise you it becomes a lot easier and you can enjoy doing it for a lot longer when you’re strong and in good health.
That’s why getting your workouts in consistently is so important. That’s why keeping your diet clean the majority of the time is so important. That’s why taking care of your mental health is so important.
So that you can continue doing the things you enjoy doing and living your awesome life without holding back.
Live awesome,
-Cam