Sunday Sermon: YOU CAN’T KEEP ADDING.
The above subject line is one of my favorite sayings concerning exercise programming.
Meaning exercises, workouts, cardio & conditioning workouts, or even just stuff to do — there’s a limit to how much you can add!
Everything has a cost in terms of time, energy, and focus versus overwhelm.
Another way of looking at it is everything you do or make time for is a withdrawal from your Recovery Bank Account. And not just the diet & exercise stuff. All the other things you got going on? Work, kids, school, etc.? Those all make a withdrawal, too. So it doesn’t take long before you’re into your overdraft and eventually bankrupt.
Now imagine if there was a to-do that actually reduced stress, aided recovery, and acted like a DEPOSIT into your Recovery Bank Account.
Well…I have two: Sleep and Walking.
We all know the restorative powers of sleep by now (if you don’t…where ya been?).
But walking! Even though it expends energy, its restorative qualities are somewhat unique in that it GIVES BACK MORE than it takes.
The only downside to walking at a modest pace is it’s time-consuming. So don’t let making more time for “stress managing walks” become yet another stressor. Walk as much as you can, when it works.
In other words, don’t try to operate on 5 hours sleep so you can get up at 4 AM and walk for an hour.
Remember…Sleep is another key restorative agent. So skimping on it is just, well, dumb. As someone once said, “That is like stepping over dollar bills to pick up pennies.”