I’ve been hoarse for a full week now. It started at the USA vs. Brazil soccer game and was intensified by top-of-my-lungs singing in the car to Roxette’s Listen To Your Heart from the 80’s. Add to that a fitness conference weekend that was shared with over a 1,000 high energy fitness professionals, and you will understand why my voice still sounds terrible. In fact, I spent much of my weekend thinking about listening more, as I should have been saving my voice, but unable to resist the temptation to get jazzed up on all the energy at the conference and participate with talking myself. I clearly need to continue to practice my listening skills.
Listen to your body when it yells WHAT at you.
One listening skill that I did hone yesterday was the practice of listening to myself. Hoarse and exhausted, I attempted to start my workout of the day at 7:00pm. Normally, I hate working out that late, but I was determined to get my run in so I proceeded anyways. Two slow miles into it, I was miserable. My body hurt, my mind hurt, and my heart was nowhere close to being in it. So, I listened to my body. I stopped. I stopped my workout when the warm-up wasn’t even done and I went home to get extra sleep.
Our bodies talk to us all the time, but we must listen and take action to what it’s saying to us for it to make a difference. Be kind to yourself and to your body; start by listening.