You CAN Do It!!

We have just learned about the many benefits that we receive when we start a daily walking program for 30 minutes or more each day. Many of us will view this website and see how walking is an easy and great thing to do to improve and feel better about your health. However, many will also walk away not starting to develop a walking program right away. WHY?

Well, there are several reasons why many people never start exercising and getting active right away as soon as they realize they should. In this section, we will deal with a major reason, which is self-confidence! Self-Confidence describes how much you believe in yourself and in your strength and abilities. People must understand that if you don’t have the self-confidence to walk, or to achieve anything in life, the chances are you will not get to reach your goals.

See what the University of Florida counseling center has to say about....

Building Self-Confidence

In order to build your inner state of belief in your strength and ability to perform a walking program here are a couple of tips to get you moving in the right direction:

Tips!

• Start with small goals for BIG results! In other words, if you haven’t walked for a long time, Please don’t set your first goal to walk from the Star City Bridge to Wal-Mart in two hours! If you make it, trust me, you are in great shape!! However, if you don’t make it, you will look down on yourself for not reaching one of your first goals, which make it harder for you to set another goal.

• Step over your obstacles- after you set your mind to live healthy and increase your walking, many obstacles will get in the way of your walking program. You must try to stay as consistent as possible. However, if something happens where you miss one or two days from your schedule, DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT! Get back to your walking program as soon as possible; because the longer you stop walking, the more difficult it becomes to start again.

• Get a walking partner! Several studies have shown that many people exercise better and longer when they have a partner. You should try starting your walking program with someone as dedicated as you so you can keep each other motivated. If you don’t know that many people, this will be a great chance to meet new interesting people. You can enter a request in our BUDDY BOX and see how many responses you receive from people with the same interest as you! Hopefully, you can form a walking group in your School


• Put a time in your daily planner for a walk- we can say we have a thousand things to do in one day. Yet, if you don’t actually fit your walking times in a certain part of your daily schedule, then it will probably just get bumped down on your things to do list to the end of the day where you might be too tired to do anything physical.
• Be Prepared- you should always try to carry a spare pair of suitable walking shoes and jacket handy for planned and unplanned walks. You never know when some extra time will spring up for you to take a short walk- even if it’s for 5 minutes- it will help a great deal!!!!