A recap of 2022 - Moving365 challenge

In December 2021 I set myself a challenge for 2022 - exercise everyday. I called it Moving 365. The main goal was to create a habit of exercising everyday regardless of the circumstances. I also had secondary goals, such as exercising first thing in the morning, not checking my phone early morning, inviting other people to join me. I used my Coros watch to record the activities and the app Strava to log all (or most) of my activities so I could keep track of it. 2022 finished and I managed to exercise 357 days, which means I missed 8 days in total. Here is a quick a recap.

 

First we need to look back at end of 2021 and the years before that to understand the context of Why I decided to do this challenge. I used to have this idea about myself that I am unable to follow routines and be disciplined. In fact, I said it loudly many times: “I hate routines”. I always played this image on my mind that routine means going to the same restaurant and ordering the same meal every time you decide to go out. “How boring! Routines and discipline is not for me.”

Back in my childhood/teenager years I engaged in many sports. I played volleyball for a few years and was actually pretty good at it. Following the Guga hype I also tried Tennis, Basketball, Swimming and of course Football as most Brazilians do. During university years I signed up for gyms and tried working out. I can’t remember how many times and different gyms I tried, but here is what happened every single time: I would sign up, have a programme built for me, get really excited and start working out. First week, every day. Second week, maybe still every day, usually dropped a day or two. As weeks go by, I would slowly drop frequency to 2… once(usually on Mondays/Tuesday) a week until I completely give up. Sounding familiar? Months later I would choose another Gym and repeat. A few times I managed to restart, but I never completed at least 6 months going to the gym regularly and consistently. Now I understand why: I failed to build the habit

Since I started touching the deep water of mindfulness, I’ve been learning a lot of things. Over the last few years I’ve been listening to lots of podcasts and reading books about our human experience. A lot of these content would fall into the “Self Help” category. Meditation, habit formation, yoga, conscious living, etc. I fully love it. One of the takeaways I took from mindfulness/meditation combined with neurology is that, 1) We often create an image of ourselves (“I’m not a morning person” “I hate running running”). 2) Most times this image is something we choose to. It’s pretty much like choosing what clothes you going to wear.  3) A lot of times that image is a very superficial thought that makes us comfortable with our decisions, but has very little to do with the deep true of who we are. 4) Lastly, the most important discovery I had: We can choose to change the image we have of ourselves. 

Over the past years I always got into summer feeling not at the best of my fitness. I would slowly build up and by end of summer I would be feeling pretty fit and strong. Then winter would come and I would slowly get less active and loose a lot of that fitness. If not for the fitness, I would exercise way less which would also have an impact on my general physical health(more sickness, etc) and also mental health.
Another aspect of it is, adventure is in the core of my being. I know I just said we create the image of ourselves, and I might be just creating another one here, not hiding from it. But going to the mountains, exploring new places, climbing mountains, putting long days on the bike etc are things I deeply enjoy. I have also aspiration to do adventure races etc. Over the last years I learned that if want to keep doing those things and pushing limits of what I can do, I need to be disciplined, especially as I age. My friend Wayne is a big inspiration for me - since we did a cycle tour together in 2017, I remember we talked about doing an Ironman. He said he would love to. Since that trip, he has done 2 full distance Ironmans, a few half-roman triathlons and many other bike/running/swimming races. We lived together and if there is one I think I learned from him is: discipline with training. Going out for a run “when you feel like” is not enough. Having an exercise/training routine and following through is the key element that allowed him - and many other athletes to constantly be doing all these cool things that I wanted to do. So eventually I came to the conclusion that I needed to change the image that Im not able to be disciplined. 

I am usually one of those “all or nothing” type of person. Moderation has never been my strengths(another image of myself?). So back at end of 2021, more exactly on 15th December, as I was reading the book Atomic Habits, I decided I wanted to build the habit of exercise. I started with 7 days. So from 15th to 22th December I managed to exercise for 7 days in a row. I was stoked. From there, I decided to just keep doing. The idea of Moving365 was born - exercise every day for a year, so I could build the habit of exercise.

And this what I did. From the usual cycling to running, hiking, yoga, pilates, strength training and walking, I did something on 357 days of 2022. I missed 8 days - some due to covid, travels, events, etc. At first I was very sad to miss days but then eventually I accepted that any habit/routine formation should allow for some small failure, and its important to not let that ruin the whole experience. 8 days missed does not mean I did not build habit. In fact, missing a day or two and coming back after it is a strong indication that the habit is formed. 

To not make this too long, I had an incredible year of exercising - I got into proper running for the first time, did my first half-marathon trail run and ran a full marathon in early summer which is exactly what I wanted to have - get into early summer already fit. I have learned a lot about myself, habit formation, discipline etc. I can definetly feel that a shift in my relation to exercise has happened - it is something very natural for me now and requires very little mental effort to go out and do something - either a long bike ride or an easy walk around the block, it’s as automatic to me as brushing my teeth. 

I will continue to unpack some of those learnings in next posts. Some glimpses: Discipline is not a destination to arrive, but a constant, endless work in progress. It requires resilience. Habits are hard to build but easy to break. The main reason we don’t become/achieve the goals we want, is because we only focus on the goal but not on the habits that we need to implement to achieve those goals. Everything around you is trying to get your attention away from your focus. Don’t go hard on yourself if you fail here and there. Be kind, be aware and get back to yourself.

What’s next? Well Im keeping the Moving365 as part of me. Still have not missed a day in 2023 and will continue to do. But 2023 I want to add more mindfulness practices. And this, my friend - writing a blog - is part of it. What habit would you like to build for you?

With love,

Daniel