Exercise

Life Wisdom And Advice! Let Them Laugh At You Now So You Can Laugh At Them Later!

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

He was still in his pajamas (I’m not even lying).1

He hadn’t yet combed his hair. He was sucking back coffee in the car on the way there. He didn’t have his water bottle. He had forgotten it. But he didn’t even realize that yet.

He was still waking up.

I, on the other hand, was a whole different story.

I drank no coffee, but pre-hydrated with lemon water, and I did everything else right (as usual). My pre-stretching routine began precisely fifteen minutes before we arrived. The checklist of items to be completed the night before was all checked off with my tidy little tick marks. My kale and mango smoothie was waiting for me in the fridge for a quick after-exercise snack. My day’s clothes were laid out and waiting, so I could make a fast transition from caterpillar to butterfly, as my husband said.

(Wait – what DOES that mean?! Caterpillar?! Now I’ll have to be mad at him to establish the power balance in the correct ratio!)

But we’re not talking about that.

We’re talking about people laughing at you. And by laughing at you, I literally mean “you” or “my friend” and definitely not “me”. Wanted to be very clear about that.

And now: the person to laugh at. My friend – we’ll call him Jim.2

He forgot his rain jacket, and we had to park away from the gym. So it was pretty rough that five minutes ago, he was asleep, and then he’s standing outside in the rain in his pajamas, waiting for the gym to open, and trying to slug back enough coffee not to accidentally murder those standing around us.

However, in six months, when he can do the fireman carry, which scientists have proven is directly correlated to overall well-being, and they can’t then who’s laughing now?

Or when he’s in a rocking chair, but he had two more years of being able to move a suitcase and put it in the overhead bin on a plane, and to stay in his own home longer (Yes, the goal as we age is to delay old folks’ homes); then who’s laughing now?

When we’re sitting next to each other in rocking chairs, but we’ve got one more year living at home because we worked out at the gym every morning for ten years, who’s laughing now?

Somehow, I’m already anticipating laughing at little (older) men and ladies in rocking chairs. How did I end up there? Well, let’s not think too much about the ethics of all of this or your maturity level to take this approach.

The point is, LET THEM LAUGH!

GO AHEAD! Show up at the gym in your pajamas with unkempt hair and having forgotten your water bottle! Let them laugh!

But when the rocking chairs come out, baby, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

My husband and I will laugh at you.

Guaranteed.

(Unless you, too, are willing to be laughed at with us now!)

Come on! Join a gym! Let them laugh at you!

And while you’re at it, there are other ways to be laughed at with similar benefits in later years:

Ask the hard questions you have about God.

Even though you assume NO ONE EXCEPT YOU has ever thought deeply about these issues, such as:

  • How can there just be only ONE true religion?
  • How could a good God allow suffering?
  • How can a loving God send people to hell?

You’ll realize that multiple groups of people have completed their PhDs on every one of your questions3, and there is probably a bit more to think about with each of these topics than you may have realized at first glance, which will make you feel stupid.

But remember what we learned!

Feel stupid now so you won’t feel QUITE as stupid later!

Be willing to look like an idiot now so you won’t look so stupid when you stand before God naked and without cultural gold stars after you die!

God is SO pleased that you are TRYING.

He’s holding out his arms and waiting for you.

(And He won’t even laugh at your mistakes, like I will!4)

Photo Credit – This photo is from Unsplash, but I couldn’t find the exact link at the moment. (I AM very organized of course! Read the FIRST BIT of this article to prove that!)

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

1 To his credit, his pajamas looked a bit like sweatpants, but that ruins the point of this article if I point out EVERY detail like that! Also, he had his gym shorts on under his pajamas, but I didn’t notice that at first, so that doesn’t count.

2 (Because my husband was starting to go to the gym that day, so that’s why I called my husband “Jim”.)

3 For answers to 99.01% of modern people’s questions about God, try Tim Keller’s Reason for God. Every question listed here is discussed with unusual frankness and a disproportionate amount of depth of insight in this book, for example.

4 Don’t take it personally. Life is more fun when we laugh at ourselves and others. (Yes, at you, too). You’re welcome! Good luck!

Eye-Opening – God Actually Encourages Us To Complete The Triathlon?

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

While my back still felt like an old lady’s, when I had to yell at people so they could hear me as I spoke to their waist, hunched over, I announced I would do a triathlon.

“Well . . . if I can walk, I will do a triathlon,” I clarified.

Click HERE to continue reading.

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

To Become Strong At The Gym, Look Down On These 3 Types Of People!

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
topless man holding black and white ceramic mug

Most people fail at the gym because they look down on the wrong people at the wrong time.

The proper way to be successful at the gym is to choose WHO EXACTLY to look down on, and WHEN. Let me explain. A new guy in our gym class worked out using too much weight and bad form.

I saw him nursing a sore bicep immediately following this exercise.

The reason why so many people pump too much weight at the beginning before they have strength or skill in lifting is because, of course, they don’t want others to look down on them.

But here’s the little twist of fate that makes all that sweat at the gym worthwhile after a few months:

If you can suffer through the humility of having others at the gym looking down on you for just a short season then . . .

You can be the one looking down on others VERY soon because you will have a strong physique, and someone new will show up at the gym, so you can (therefore, of course!) look down on the latest people in just a few months!

So the trick then, as mentioned in my opening sentence, is to:

CHOOSE CAREFULLY WHO EXACTLY YOU WANT TO LOOK DOWN ON AND WHEN.

However, MAYBE you’re one of those morally superior people who NEVER looks down on others or tells others that you think you are morally superior! Well GOOD for you! But since I’ve never met anyone like that, let’s keep discussing these points for the rest of us, “not-so-amazing ones”.

  1. The first type of people you CAN make fun of are those who think they are SO amazing.1 See the preceding paragraph. That is a given in any circumstance and irrelevant to the topic of the gym, but is worth reminding each other of, anyway. You’re welcome! Who else can you feel superior to?
  2. You can feel superior to people who DON’T go to the gym! “I went to the gym today,” you can drop, as a casual comment. That sentence is enough to garner respect from everyone you know! You MUST be, therefore: Accomplished!, Disciplined! Skilled! Try not to mention this in front of someone you ACTUALLY go to the gym with, lest they snicker when they remember you forgot to put the little stopper on the large barbell thing so the weight doesn’t fall off again or that you accidentally reached for your water bottle under the guy who was weightlifting, and he smacked the thing on your head (True story). Such details ruin the effects you are after.
  3. Not only is it wise to CHOOSE SPECIFIC PEOPLE you are aiming to feel superior to, but it is also wise to choose WHEN you will feel superior them! For example, you can feel superior to MANY people even AT the gym once you’ve gone there for a while!

And then we’ve come full circle, and now YOU are the one making fun of the new people at the gym!

PS – As an aside, I know this may be surprising to you, but I recently read a book that has a chapter about humility in it, and in fact, on reflection, the definition below from this book fits in perfectly with this Newsletter:

Humility (Definition): “The simple and freeing . . . assessment of who God is and who I am. It is rooted in our belovedness and adoption of the Father, so we aren’t tricked into timidity or start feeing like a worm.”

Lower by Zach Meerkreebs

So as another strategy, you could also get fit by going to the gym, working out, and not noticing or caring whether others are judging you or not, because you already found your self-esteem somewhere else!

However, this strategy seems impossible, so I don’t recommend the approach.

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

1 Try to do this humbly.

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

Shatter Your Massive Ego – It’s Time To Be Amazing! (Like Me)

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
man in black tank top and gray shorts holding black smartphone

I went from being the biggest loser at the gym, doing exercises without ANY weights (Don’t judge me), to finding lighter weights than the lightest weights that they put out for the group class and using those.

But I was using ACTUAL five-pound weights by then!

“The ones who keep coming back are the ones who will get stronger!” I was told.

And I kept coming back.

Until one day, my instructor “had chills” when I did an exercise. This was because I did it with good form. Perhaps her chills were simply chills of relief that she didn’t have to spend five minutes out of every ten minutes re-showing me how to use the equipment in a class full of thirty other students so I wouldn’t hurt myself, her, or others nearby*, but they were chills nonetheless!

“She obviously truly cares about her students,” my husband commented, so he thinks she was surprised I did something right, too.

But I’m improving!

And the thing is that my friend didn’t want to come to the gym because she felt intimidated by all the people around her doing stuff right. That’s the dumbest reason not to go to the gym because EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM was once a big loser at the gym, throwing around weights and hurting themselves and others. (Well, maybe some caught on faster than me, but you catch my point!)

Anyway, we often hear people say it’s those who go the gym a lot who have the big egos, right? Like they are the ones who will laugh at us? Wait – maybe they will laugh at us, but if you read this post, you won’t care about that either!

The point is that you are getting stronger.

And that looking like a bit of a loser is not a bad thing!

It means you’re learning.

And similarly, the next time you pray to God, and then open one eye and wonder why the Archangel Gabriel isn’t standing next to you in your bedroom giving you life instructions, maybe take off your head and replace it with a new one. (Replace it with a head with correct thoughts while you’re at it, of course!)

Maybe we’re SUPPOSED to feel like losers when we are in the process of growing spiritually or physically.

For example, every time I woke up early when I was in a season of trying to learn to pray, I felt like I was playing hide and seek with Jesus. “I can’t find you!” I would call out after 1.28 seconds of concerted prayer. But He was there, often (metaphorically) hiding behind a small rosebush in my backyard. The rosebush that hadn’t blossomed yet. He was in plain sight because my rosebush only reached his knees, but He was bent at the waist, laughing.

I was learning that He loves it when we seek Him.

And so, maybe feeling like we’re losers is even good for us sometimes.

It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them.

Ancient Text

Realizing we’re losers is often part of the heart transformation we need to be able to run into His arms like a small child when He does reveal Himself to us one day, when we do experience his presence, when we do sense His love for us through the arms of His people who love us because they love Him.

And so all this jibber-jabber about people at the gym, for example, that they have huge egos?

Hogwash.

After all, I go to the gym!

I do subscribe, however, to the philosophy that it is wiser to FLAUNT one’s ego, so maybe the having-a-big-ego thing doesn’t apply to me?

My gym did recently install this mat, however.

I wonder why?

It’s probably because there’s someone at the gym, someone else, who has a big ego.

Whatever.

Anyway, I hope you follow my advice by knowing now, with absolute confidence, because I told you so, that you, like me, are, of course, VERY humble, the opposite of those with a big ego.

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Photo credit: Fit guy by Total Shape on Unsplash

*Most days, note that it was only ONE of those three.

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! (Proven HERE, HERE and HERE!) Let’s journey together!

Advice: Go To The Gym For This One Eye-Opening Reason (NOT Just To Work Out)

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
woman kneeling beside man

My mouth hung open. I stared at the woman walking past me. It was not polite to stare (I know, okay!), but I forgot that my mouth was still hanging open.

I had just worked out at the gym. My muscles were getting EVEN stronger! For example, this time, I didn’t have to go to the far edge of the gym to find lighter weights than the weights set out by our instructor for the group class.

I could use the lightest weights that were ALREADY placed there for the group class INSTEAD of locating even lighter ones!

My muscles were growing, and that’s why I was there! My ego was growing, too! “Look how strong I am getting!” I thought proudly, appreciating my thin little arms with increasing pride.

At the end of the class, as we were putting the weights away, I wiped my brow after picking up and putting away a hefty 10-pound weight.

And that’s when my mouth fell open.

I tried to keep it closed, but I would need both hands to do so, and I didn’t want to drop the weight I was carrying on my foot.

That older woman was carrying 50-pound weights in EACH arm as she helped re-stack the weights.

(!)

I instantly remembered the stories relatives told me of my strapping great-uncle. He was over 6 feet tall, built like a farmer (He was a farmer!) and threw 100-pound sacks of potatoes. “Wow!” I had thought, the day I heard this story.

That same day, I played another game of Candy Crush on my iPad while finishing my ice cream bowl, hoping I could be strong like that!

And so, this year, I joined a gym and began pumping 5-pound weights with full energy and gusto! “Wha-hooo!” I thought, imagining myself pumping 6-pound weights in another six months or so and maybe eventually moving up to 10 pounds in EACH ARM one day!

It turned out that my vision was too small.

Like in a lot of areas of life, during various seasons.

Like for many of us.

How is your vision for who you are becoming, friend?

And so, why should we go to the gym if it’s not solely to work out?

We place ourselves next to others who have a vision for themselves that is greater than the vision we have for ourselves. And seeing another get stronger helps me to have faith that one day, with patience and persistence, I can get a bit stronger, too. Stronger than I ever thought I could be, actually.

Am I willing to pay the price of a bit of sweat?

“One of the standards we ask of our male patients is that they can carry half their body weight in each hand (so full body weight in total) for at least one minute, and for our female patients, we push for 75 percent of that weight.”

Outlive by Peter Attia, MD (Chapter 12)

This goal is not only for the 0.00001% elite but is something that antiaging physicians like Peter Attia recommend that ALL of us who can (barring injuries and ill health) strive to work towards.

I didn’t even know this was possible for someone my age.

And on a not unrelated theme, who do you know, friend, who:

– Seeks to listen to the whispers from God,

– Obeys and is following Him on a journey of adventure,

– Is not (always) a jerk?

Are you willing to pay the price of their lunch? Can you meet with them to have your vision expanded as you listen to them for what is spiritually possible in your life, too?

bird on water falls
man standing in front of LED bulbs

May you become all that God intended for you, friend.

As the song below plays, consider asking God, can you please recall to my mind or introduce me to someone with an inspiring spiritual vision for their life? What nudges do you sense from God, friend?

You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.

The Message

Image Credits: Woman kneeling beside man by by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash, Bird soaring by by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash, Tough guy by Xenia Bogarova on Unsplash.

Thank you for liking me! I like you, too!

How To Avoid A Midlife Crisis – 3 Drops of Preventative Medicine

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

So we decided to take surfing lessons in our summer holidays this year.

I had never tried surfing on the ocean before, but as you know, I tried surfing for the first time behind a surf boat on a lake this summer.

As I was putting on my wetsuit for my first ocean surfing lesson yesterday, I was surprised that our group consisted of about two dozen teenagers, with my husband and me. We have kids their age. There were three parents nearby.

“I’m glad at least there are a few parents,” I whispered to my husband.

He nodded appreciatively. The parents didn’t suit up. They were there to watch.

“Should we be concerned about that?” my huband and I asked each other silently.

I wasn’t quite sure of the wisdom of this whole surfing gig, even without the fact that this seemed to be a teen activity. As you know, I spent a month this fall in bed with a back problem. Was this really wise?

I felt God whisper to try, to do less of the lesson, but to give it a go.

Also, the pain specialist said that often, people get stuck and won’t do anything new after their injury. Their backs freeze up, and they get stuck in cycles of every-more-limited mobility.

I don’t want to be constrained by fear.

The surfing lesson was super fun! Except I did have to ask one of the teens to help me carry my surfboard down to the beach because it was too heavy for me, and I didn’t want to explain about having a sore back last fall lest one of them ask, “Lady, what the heck are you doing in a surf lesson then???” But apart from the minor hiccups, it was great fun!

My husband said we should continue to do this kind of stuff, meaning that we should push ourselves outside of the limits that we set for ourselves, i.e. as non-surfers. I agree with his philosophy. Before the trip, he said, “This will be a great trip because we have aspirin!”

But this got me thinking about midlife crises.

The teen instructor asked us, “What made you want to get into surfing?”

“Trying to avoid a midlife crisis?” I offered.

But there may be some truth in expanding our horizons a little bit and in allowing ourselves some room to grow to avoid a midlife crisis.

So here are some thoughts on avoiding a midlife crisis:

  1. Here’s a picture of me surfing. I didn’t stand up on the thing, but it can’t be that much harder to stand when you’re surfing, can it? And then it’s not much of a jump to imagine myself as a surfer person with a few more (billion) hours at the beach under my belt. Sometimes, stretching our identities and ideas of who we are takes a bit of a physical challenge.
  2. I think many of us get fat in middle age because we obsess about constantly seeking comfort. Our lives of comfort become boring. For example, do you ever notice yourself dreaming about lunch right after breakfast? Or thinking about your afternoon sugar snack right after lunch? This could signify that our lives need a little spicing up instead of our menus.
  3. If we’re open to adventure, God has something new, friend, and exciting for each one of us. If we open our spiritual eyes and are willing be honest, thirsty and surrendered.

Why be satisfied with our old identities and a boring turkey sandwich when God offers us His world to soar into, friend?

Ready yet for adventure?

How To Exercise When You Are A Busy Homeschooling Parent!

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

How do we become the kind of homeschooling parent with time to exercise?

Good question.

As discussed here and here, we throw our old identities of competent, non-butt-smelling parents out the window. Then, we think up a new plan that is dissonant with the parent we thought we would become. We embrace our inner loser.

And so, when I therefore stopped trying to be excellent as a homeschooling parent, the solution became apparent:

Let them rot their brains!

I decided, in my excess of homeschooling wisdom born from a recognition of my incompetencies, to begin each day by pouring into my children’s brains not challenging academic subjects, but . . . content dribbled from online devices straight into their beautiful little brains as they stared intently at screens!

I essentially bribed them.

“Look,” I said that morning as I pulled out their new to-do lists. “Do the stuff on the list this morning and then you will get to rot your brains with time online!” I promised them that big carrot held out tantalizingly close.

And so they finally got up, brushed their little teeth, put away the milk (one of their to-do items in that season), got dressed, combed their cute little hair, and then sat down to veg out on a device.

I let them watch anything they wanted from the RightNow Media app. I can trust what this company produces. And for a high-tech tip, if you triple-click your iPad or iPhone the kids can’t suddenly switch from the app of your choice to their favourite “Candy Plus Violence!” (or whatever) app.

We all won!

I got my sweat on downstairs on my elliptical machine for half an hour while they watched something that was loosely a morning character development program. (That was the rationale of the old “I must be an exceptional homeschooling parent” tiny voice remnant that still lurked in the recesses of my mind.) I got my sweat on, and the best thing was that I could find them all at 8:00 am, and they were ready to go!

When I sneakily put pencils into their hands in the last 10 seconds of their program, it was a transition they barely even noticed, from vegging out to doing math!

By 10:00 am every single day, I felt I should have won a homeschooling award. (I didn’t. No one cared. God does though!*)

So, lose your respectable homeschooling parent identity!

Let them rot their brains online early every morning instead!

You’ll feel amazing AFTER exercising! (Not before or during exercising – Let it be known). It feels pretty great (eventually) to shift identity, too. And so, how do we change our identity to the kind of parent who exercises?

1. All of our initial ideas about who we will become as homeschooling parents are kind of nut-so if we’re honest! Let’s toss those ideas with our huge egos and embrace mediocrity for our children instead! 

2. Our children may need their brains to rot a little so that this homeschooling journey is sustainable for all of us. So be it! 

3. Time for popcorn and a group educational video at 11:00 am, little family? We did something useful today! Let’s celebrate! We give each other a high five, and I have time for a visit with a homeschooling mom that afternoon. (While the kids build a mini-nuclear reactor or do whatever it is homeschooled kids do in their spare time). 

This homeschooling ship is on course!

When a mom’s long-term well-being matters EQUALLY as much as the (nut-so, unrealistic) goals we have for our children*, this homeschooling ship can sail into the future as long and as far as God calls us.

Well done, parents!

Love others as well as you love yourself

Jesus of Nazareth, a guy with tons of wisdom!

As you listen to this song below, consider asking the King of Kings, the guy who longs to pour love on you as your Father, what gifts He longs to put into the hands of His favourite child, you.

(Because we’re all His favourite child. Shhh… that’s God’s secret that He is whispering to you even now. Hear Him?)

Blogpost Footnotes

*That discussion is for next time – we are all works in progress!

The Best Solutions Suddenly Materialize When We Embrace Our Inner Loser!

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

The problem I couldn’t solve in that season was, “How do I, a VERY busy, mentally fragile (We’re around kids a LOT) homeschooling parent, find time to exercise?”

I did, eventually, find a solution to this problem by embracing my inner loser. I hope this problem-solving method helps you find solutions to your biggest problems, too! Here’s what happened, which is a continuation of this post.

And yes, I realize this last post was useless without an explanation, which I didn’t have time to provide.

Now, where was I? Ah yes. Smelling kid’s butts. After the low of us parents becoming butt-sniffers, we hit an even lower low several months later.

Butt-sniffing became our accidental family culture.

Our two-year-old, who loved to mimic our behaviour, stopped next to me as I sat on an office stool and then had a sniff before she carried on with her other little tasks. I looked at her, startled and then smiled lamely at my husband.

How did we become THAT family?*

The point is, as discussed last time, the person we become is not always the person we aspire to be.

Not only did I find it convenient to assume the identity of a butt-sniffing parent, but I also found it convenient to shirk the identity of a homeschooling parent who has all of her ducks in a row.

Which brings me, finally, to embracing our inner loser so we can become a homeschool parent who exercises.

Before I started on this homeschooling journey, I, like you if you homeschool, envisioned myself as a particular type of homeschooling parent. This is not the parent I eventually became. I’m okay with that now.

But the shaky ground of this identity incongruence was a roller coaster ride.

I envisioned myself nicely coifed and looking like my favourite public school teacher in Grade Three, Mrs. Chamberlain. Instead, I very quickly became that parent still wearing a house coat and curlers in my hair at 11:00 am, downing my fourth coffee, and trying to find the kids so I could corral them inside. We began the day with our “Homeschool Morning Routine”, which, for us was trying to find our books or pencils strewn around the house and yard the day before.

A new problem also emerged: I knew my inconvenient, neglected body needed to start exercising again.

I couldn’t even figure out how to encourage, bribe or command my children to put the milk away after they finished breakfast (In fact, I still haven’t figured that out with one of my teenagers). How would I keep these little ones on their homeschooling tasks while I left their side to exercise?

The feat seemed impossible.

Until my new identity as an incompetent homeschooling parent thought up a solution.

Realizing I was – ahem- a BIT of a (whisper) homeschooling loser, once I stopped trying so hard to be an exercise enthusiast, and embraced mediocrity, the solution to my problem was obvious!

I’ll tell you specifically what that is next time.**

The point is, let’s embrace our inner incompetence!

Perhaps the solutions to your problems can be found there, too!

Since we’ve . . . proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God . . . got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.

The Message

Once we accept our identities as people who are incompetent in so many ways, life suddenly gets much more manageable!

Time to stop trying so hard and embrace your inner loser, too?

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Blogpost Footnotes

*See this post for a perfectly reasonable answer, thank you very much, okay?!

**Ah! I forgot to say something useful again!

Not Exercising? Try Shifting Identity To The Parent You Never Wanted To Become

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

How do we develop an exercise routine we can stick to as parents?

We must morph into the parents we never dreamed we’d become.

And I mean to become the parent we feared we would become.

I’ll explain.

It all started the day I started sniffing my kid’s butts.

When I was a well-coiffed, austere young woman in my twenties, I wrinkled up my nose at those homesteading women with several children crowding around them as they made cookies and managed a beehive simultaneously. “Isn’t that disgusting?” my sophisticated friends and I whispered, and we looked away in horror when one of these busy moms lifted her toddler, sniffed around their child’s middle for signs of a “Number two” and quickly set them back down on the floor again. This mom then happily continued stirring cookies, unpasteurized honey, or whatever she did all day.

“I would never do that butt-sniffing manoeuvre!”

When my children were toddlers, I gasped my way to a mom and toddler’s event one morning, my hair dishevelled, unmatched dirty clothing thrown over my and my toddler’s forms. I was clinging to a half-drunk coffee for dear life as I sat next to a fellow mom and empathized delightedly with her. We shared similar tales of near survival, of these miniature beings often holding us hostage to their need.

Suddenly, I remembered that I should probably check the older daughter, who was not yet fully toilet trained.

I grabbed my daughter’s arm and yanked her away from her friend. My daughter morphed from playing contentedly to screaming like a fire truck. I nearly lost the battle of the wills but managed to stuff her into the change-room, where I opened her training diaper and

. . . nothing.

There was nothing there.

When I returned to my friend, she was already chatting with another dishevelled woman, and for the rest of that “mom’s time,” my two toddlers had incessant needs again.

So it didn’t take long before I happily lifted my toddlers when they were playing contentedly, smelled their butts, and set them back down again with a wink and a nod.

I continued my coffee and well-deserved amiable chat with other homeschooling parent survivors,

My identity had shifted.

And similarly, what kind of identity shift do we need to become the kind of homeschooling parent who exercises?

1. We realize that if we are going to stay in this game long-haul we’ve got to surrender our pre-conceived ideas of success as defined by this culture, or worse, by our expectations of ourselves.

2. Our identity must be firmly linked to those who are societally undignified. We delight in our identity as children of the king, not as classy members of a specific culture (i.e. of any culture).

 3. We have fun, dancing with joy with our two-year-olds because we finally figured out that when we are happy, our little ones are too.

Throw off your chains, captive daughter . . . ! God says, “You were sold for nothing. You’re being bought back for nothing.”

The Message

And it was this change in perspective, from “culturally respectable” to “daughter of the King,” that led me to be the kind of parent who exercises regularly, as well.

The link between a shift in identity and exercise will be discussed another time.

I promise to say something useful sometime! That is if I remember to finish this blogpost series on exercising when homeschooling. This post was essential to set the foundation for when we will dive into the nitty-gritty of the shift in identity required to exercise while homeschooling young children.

For now, the first step is to stop trying to be “respectable”!

It doesn’t work anyway!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!