While (it seemed) the whole world was embarking on a new fitness challenge in the new year, I tried a challenge of my own.

I started by intentionally taking a week completely off from working out. When my week was up I decided I needed more time. With the exception of going for walks around my neighborhood, the core exercises I’m doing for PT, and a short swim with a friend, I was sedentary for nearly two full weeks. 

Sometime in the first week of January, I'd woken up feeling like my legs had been run over by a bus — it was the same feeling I’d had over and over and over in my 20’s — and consistently ignored, leading to a level of burnout I would never want to experience again. So I ditched my workout in favor of a rest day and decided to try again the next day. But the next day, I had no energy, so I pulled the plug on my workout early and decided to give myself the gift of deep rest. 

Immediately, the meanies that hang out in my head spoke up. 

What if a week turns into a month or a year and you become a lazy amoeba? 

Is it really a good idea to ditch your workout routine when Dan is away on a work trip and you’ll be alone with the kids all week? 

What if you lose your mind? 

Who even are you if you’re not an athlete? 

But 43-year-old me knows a few things that 20-something me didn’t. I know my health is more important than my ego and that even the best athletes have an off-season. I know stress isn’t just the sum of your workouts; it also includes life stuff and I don’t need to explain how stressful the past two years have been. I know there are other ways to cope with life beyond exercise. I know that when I’m just not feeling it — whether “it” is movement, writing, a relationship, or anything else — taking a break makes more sense than continuing to push. 

I know diet culture, hustle culture, and even the meanies in my head that are trying to tell me I’m not good enough exactly as I am, are wrong. 

I know the only one who knows how to live my life is me. 

So this is me wishing you a 2022 that’s full of intuition, self-compassion, and joy. 

xo, 

4 Things Worth Checking Out 

• If you have three minutes: The danger of treating body parts like fast fashion by Aubrey Hirsch for Vox. 
   
• If you have an hour: My interview with Nell Rojas, the pro distance runner who just signed with Adidas. The Boston Athletic Association called her "one of the fastest and most decorated" women competing in the Boston Marathon this spring. We covered her recent performance at the Houston half marathon, body image, bulimia, breathing, and more. 
   
• If you have nothing good to read on your nightstand: I tore through We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz in about four days. (For more book recs, click here.)
   
• If you need a quick distraction: Are we connected on Instagram yet?