If It Feels Good, Do It

I'm not talking about drugs or alcohol, but exercise. I think I'm being sent a message and I get it, loud and clear. It's like a voice is yelling at me "Get off your butt and do something active!". The messages come in different forms. Yesterday, a fellow blogger posted about the evils of the Atkins diet (which I totally agree with, since I went on it with disastrous results). Another message has come in the form of my health woes of late and the fact that when I talk to my 80 year-old grandma, she seems more active than me. Those two were just warming me up for today. A parent who was dropping his children off at school (he had walked them there), felt faint outside of the school (his kids had gone inside) and suffered from a heart attack right on the spot. He passed away a few hours later at the hospital. I didn't know this man, but those who did were very upset and we had our psychologist there for students and/or staff who needed counseling. I don't know why his death struck me like it did, but I started to think about the amount of time I sit of my butt versus the time I spend actually doing something. At work, my job is pretty sedentary - I get up and walk to classrooms to get kids, but beyond that, I'm sitting. At home, I am tired from work, so I sit more. Then I thought about my family history - both parents have had heart attacks before age of 60 (both were mild, but still...), and my grandfather on my mom's side (mom's dad) passed away from a heart attack at age 49. On my dad's side, the history is a bit sketchy, but I know heart disease runs in that side as well. All of that was enough to make me want to go hole up at home, but instead, I started thinking about when I was the healthiest of my life and how I reacted to events of the day. I didn't go home - I went out walking. Anytime I was stressed from grad school or I needed a "time-out", I exercised. So what did I do today after work? I went to the gym and spent a good hour on a cardio workout. Because of my recent condition, I cannot lift weights, but at least I'm doing something constructive. You know what else? It felt good. So, since it feels good and might prevent me from dying of heart disease, I need to make a habit of exercise and just "do it".