I think I hear a lot of you sighing in relief about now, because you too secretly loathe exercising, despite your desire for good health. Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not the moving and shaking about I can’t stand. It’s the concept that makes me grit my teeth. The term exercise makes me

Feel guilty because I haven’t started.
Feel guilty because when I do start I’m not doing it hard enough or often enough.
Feel guilty because I eventually stop.

Did I say guilty? Okay, here are more reasons why I don’t like exercise:

I have too much else to do.
Exercise is torture.
I’d rather have fun.

Did I say fun? Okay, this is where so many people get stuck. They think exercise is boring! Well, yeah! Huffing and puffing on a treadmill? What am I, some kind of lab animal? Whoever thought they could combine kicking with aerobics, only to call it fun, well… I dread to see what the rest of his life looks like.

But seriously, though. I honestly think people don’t exercise because of the boredom factor. Now if they could only do something more exciting like dancing and call it exercise, well that’s a different story. Oh, wait. Dancing is exercise! And so is skiing and playing tag with the kids and taking nature walks and going snorkeling, and smacking a tennis ball and….

You get the point. Maybe not. So here’s the point: You’ve been duped, misled, dragged across the mud of guilt and shame. Stop thinking of exercise as exercise. Stop using that word altogether. When your doctor orders you to exercise three times a week, tell yourself that she’s really saying, “Now go do something fun and interesting that requires movement a few times a week.”

Ahhhh. Sounds so much more appealing. And doable.

So, what do you do that’s fun, interesting, and requires movement a few times a week (Ahem…Keep the comments clean…)? Put your responses in the box below.