I have been trying a new exercise program. The basis of the program for me is this: As we get older our body deteriorates, our joints, bones, and muscles get weaker and when we reach old age it get difficult to move and do everyday activities. I don’t want to be a marathon runner when I am eighty years old, but I would like to be able to walk by myself, do my normal activities, and be able to get up off the floor by myself. Therefore, I am starting this exercise program to help maintain and build my muscles and strengthen my bones and joints so that as I age, I will be able to age as well as I can. In other words, I will not go quietly into that dark night.
Since I lost weight, I lost lots of muscle. I have found myself much weaker than I was before I lost weight. I didn’t realize that when you lose weight, it is very easy to lose muscle and strength. As I embark on this new journey, I feel sort of defeated. The program tells me to start with the twenty-pound weight doing three fifteen repetitions for each exercise. The problem is I can’t do it. I am too weak. I am having to start with the ten-pound weight doing three five repetitions for some exercises. I laugh and tell my husband that I feel like a “98-pound weaking”.
I have faith in myself though. If I keep trying, then it is going to get better. I am going to grow stronger, and I will get where I can do the twenty-pound weight. Maybe if I work really hard, I might even get to where I can do a thirty-pound weight!
I know that I can do whatever I believe I can do. I shape my own reality because anything is possible with God. So, if I want to be healthy and if I want to grow old gracefully, then I can do it and God will walk with me every step of the way. I just have to believe in myself and believe that God has as much faith in me as much as I have faith in Him.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
