News from Mr Grady
Hello everyone,
I cannot believe it is the end of September already. The start of term feels quite some time ago, and I can only dimly remember the summer holidays. I’m not sure where the time has gone! Already the morning and evenings feel a little darker, and the onset of Autumn definitely feels closer than the height of summer.
The problem, with the darker mornings and evenings is that it is increasingly harder and harder to drag myself out for a run. Despite the fact that I KNOW exercise is good for me, and for my own wellbeing, and that I DO, I REALLY DO enjoy running, the darkness, the cold, and the general gloom tends to mean I find any excuse not to go.
Self-discipline has never been a strong point for me, and compounding this, is of course the fact that for every run I miss, I also feel the guilt of not having stuck to my schedule. So I feel bad on two levels – not running, and the guilt that I’m not running. Pretty soon, I’ll reach the stage of not having run for so long that when I do start running again, I won’t enjoy it, as I’ll be so unfit. And all this, because I couldn’t haul myself out of bed 30 minutes earlier to JUST GET IT DONE.
I have to find a way to motivate myself. It’s odd isn’t it, that something you know is a positive, and a good choice can sometimes feel so hard to actually maintain. I know I can threaten myself with the exercise bike, which I really REALLY dislike, but that sort of negative motivation really is only for a short-term kickstart, it won’t sustain me across the winter, so I’ll need to work on the positive motivation, the good that will come from going for a morning run; the smug self-satisfied feeling I’ll get is a good start; the fact that if I get started now, I’ll be able to eat what I like over the Christmas period; the fact that being out in that brisk autumnal air and rain, I’ll really forget everything else, and just concentrate on enjoying the run; the fact that I will continue to work at reducing my time for 5km run, and with that will come a real sense of achievement. See? Already I feel like tying the running shoes on, and getting started.
As we move into October and November, we’ll all need to think about different motivations to keep going, to maintain our effort and stay positive – some time thinking about what will help us do that is always well spent. I’ll let you know how my positivity goes. Of course, now I’ve promised I’ll get out and do it to the whole school, I really do need to make good on that…
With all best wishes, stay well and safe!
Mr Grady
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