Transcript: Tornado Watch or Tornado Warning: The Real Reason I Finally Started Working Out
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Ashley introduces the episode's question — what finally made her start working out — and reflects on her physical limitations like struggling to go upstairs, and watching the health of people around her decline.
Why am I trying to get fit in my feral 40s? What's
up my movers and shakers? Famous Ashley Grant
here. Welcome to More Movement Please, the podcast
where I hope to inspire you to move your body
more. So today I want to talk about the fact
that I chose to try to get fit in my 40s. What
was it that finally made me decide that it was
time to do this? And I've kind of talked about
this in the past, but I guess I've been thinking
a lot lately as I'm getting closer to my day
365 milestone. I'm reflecting a lot about what
it was that made me decide to finally listen
to Rhonda, my instructor. And as I've told you
guys in the past, she had said many of the statements
many times to me that I needed to work out more
and that I... You know, needed to take better
care of myself. And that only I could. So, what
was it that finally made her statement stick?
I think the biggest thing was recognizing the
limitations in my own physical health. I have
talked about it so many times that I was struggling
to go upstairs. I was struggling to walk around.
As I was watching the health of some of the people
in my life decline, I was recognizing that if
I didn't make a change, I was on the fast track
to be, if not like them, worse off than them.
And it scared me. It really did. And you know,
the funny thing is, it was about, I don't want
Ashley recounts being told by her doctor roughly a decade ago that she was a 'ticking time bomb' headed for a heart attack — and how even that warning wasn't enough to make her change.
to say it was a full decade ago, because that
feels like it was too long, but maybe it was.
The doctor told me that I was a ticking time
bomb. She told me that if I kept going the way
that I was going, that I was going to have a
heart attack. And even though that scared me
too, for some reason, it didn't click the way
that you'd think a statement like that would
to make you, well, start working out. It took
watching... physical pains actually happening
to others to finally make me act. So even though
my doctor had told me that if I wasn't careful,
I was basically taking time mom waiting to happen,
it still didn't click just how serious it was
until I started watching the physical elements
that were impacting some loved ones and some
friends. It took watching them deal with that
to finally make me act. And I guess the reality
is that when someone tells you something is going
to impact you versus actually witnessing it happening
to someone, that's when it really shakes you
up. There's a true difference between someone
telling you that you are at risk of a heart attack
versus watching people actually be impacted by
a threat that makes the threat feel more real.
It's kind of like how, you know, if they tell
you there's a tornado watch, well, you keep an
eye out for it. But how many of us really actively
pay attention to it? But if they say tornado
warning, that's when we pay attention. That's
when we're like, oh, crap, you know, it's imminent.
It's coming. So I guess you could say that my
Ashley explains the difference between being told you're at risk versus witnessing health problems actually happen to others, using the tornado watch/warning analogy to describe what finally made the threat feel real and prompted her to act.
doctor telling me I was a ticking time bomb,
that was my tornado watch. But watching. people
actually impacted by serious health problems,
that was my tornado warning. And it just so happened
to line up, if I'm really being honest as I'm
reflecting on this year -long journey, it just
so happened to line up that that was about the
time that my instructor said to me those fateful
words again that she had said similarly so many
times before that it was a choice. Whether or
not I was going to schedule my fitness. Whether
or not I was going to schedule taking care of
myself. Whether or not I was going to put myself
first. And it was like that was the time I finally
realized why it was so important I put on my
own oxygen mask first. So what's your tornado
watch? What's your tornado warning? What I want
to encourage you to do. is take an honest assessment
of where you're at right now. Are you in the
tornado watch of things? Or are you in the tornado
warning? And more importantly, if you are in
the watch stage, do you even want to risk getting
to the warning stage? I don't want that for you.
If you're in the tornado watch, start working
out. Start moving your body. Start actively choosing
yourself. Start taking care of yourself. Onwards
and upwards, my friend. Have you worked out today?
Ashley turns the question back to listeners, asking them to honestly assess whether they're in the tornado watch or warning stage, and urging those still in the watch stage not to wait until it gets worse.
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