There’s no shortage of people saying exercise is good for you, and most of the time it sounds like background noise – another item on the long list of things we should be doing but somehow never quite feel like doing. The truth is, physical fitness is advantageous in ways that go far beyond the obvious, and most of those benefits don’t appear instantly. They build slowly, almost silently, until one day you realize that your body and mind simply function better when movement is a regular part of life.
I’ll be honest: I don’t find working out easy or enjoyable. It almost always feels hard, sometimes even dreadful. I’m not the kind of person who jumps out of bed excited to go lift weights or run. For me, exercising is not a passion – it’s a non-negotiable, something I do because I’ve accepted that my future self will thank me even when my present self complains.
But that’s the hidden power of physical fitness: you don’t need to love it for it to work.