Move, or Die.

When my four kids were all under six (😱), I used to drop them off at the rec-centre babysitting room during my daily workout.

Seven dollars for an hour. I didn’t feel like I had the hour to spare, and I didn’t have the seven dollars either, but I did it anyway.

If movement is the magic pill that makes everything better, the flip side is cruelly true too: 

Without movement, everything falls apart.

With so much depending on me, I couldn’t afford to fall apart.

“Move or die is the language of our Maker in the constitution of our bodies,” U.S. Founding Father John Adams wrote to his son Charles in 1795. “Exercise is indispensable. No regimen without it will do. No abstinence, no medicine, no diet will supply its place.”

Clearly this isn’t new science, it’s time-tested wisdom worth passing down to your kids.

Movement wasn’t a luxury for me as a young mother. It was necessary to show up fully for my kids, my husband, and myself.

Sure, sometimes I worked out at home with my kids. But it’s awfully compromised when you’re multitasking sprints with answering a four-year-old’s question: “What do you think it would be like to be a cat?”

Was my kid-free time at the gym selfish? Maybe on some level. But it’s not like I disappeared for half a day to train for Ironman. It was one hour apart; good for them and for me.

Skipping exercise because life is busy is like skipping oil changes because you’re driving too much. It feels logical for a while, until the engine seizes and you (and your family!) are stranded on the side of the road.

Our bodies work the same way. They were built to move, not occasionally, but as a condition of survival.

Movement isn’t a hobby or a luxury. It’s mandatory maintenance for owning a body.

You can only put it aside without consequence for so long before the system breaks down – physically, mentally, emotionally.

Some things in life can be handed off. Movement isn’t one of them. You can hire help, delegate chores, even order your groceries online, but you can’t pay anyone to move for you. This one is yours.

You can’t outsource it, delay it, or negotiate with it. You either move, or you slowly unravel.

You can’t afford not to move. It’s the very thing that makes you more patient, more focused, more alive – and, by extension, healthier, stronger, and better-looking.

Move. Because the alternative isn’t rest; it’s rot.

Here’s your Homework: Accountability is often the first step to making fitness non-negotiable. Hire a coach, join a gym, or find a friend who will help you stay consistent when life gets busy. Start where you are, but start this week.

If you’re in the Edmonton area and want a coach in your corner, you can reach out to work with me ​here​.

With you in it,
Amanda