It can be that easy. In many ways my energetic friends have shaped who I am (pun intended!). All I had to do was decide I was going to show up and the adventures have followed.
Don’t have any friends that think hiking in the winter snow is fun? Invite someone else. No one you hang with wants to go to muscle pump or Pilates class? Go anyway, your new friends are there waiting for you. Neighbours think you are crazy for getting up early on the weekend to go for a run? Join a run club where everyone else runs further, faster and goes earlier than you do and then see who the crazy one is.
The right friends can make the difference between you briefly thinking about being active and you actually getting out there to enjoy the glow of rosy cheeks.
As a new writer for YummyMummyClub you will quickly figure out that we are a very active outdoorsy family and that everything we do is usually our friends fault. I blame who we hang out with for all the crazy stuff we get involved in. Getting up at 7am on weekends is not my idea of fun, but I’m so glad I do it once I meet up with running friends. Skiing every weekend in -20 weather was never on my bucket list, but the winter fun we have with friends takes the chill off. Riding my bike in the pouring rain is something I swore I would never do, but my training friends got me across my first triathlon finish line in the worst weather. I even blame those friends for our new puppy, but that is a story for another time!
Dear Parents: Sitting Still Is Killing Our Kids
I am often told I am super active but to me I am just keeping up with the energetic friends I have chosen to surround myself with. They inspire me, they motivate me, and they have the best ideas.
My active friends make the most of everyday and, despite the weather, they get out there.
I know I am the one who takes on the new adventures and sets the goals for myself, but it is usually someone else’s idea. With their encouragement and support I have trained for and completed a 70.3 Ironman, summited Mt Kilimanjaro, joined a ski club, run a half marathon in the heat of Barbados and the cold winter snow. These life experiences and accomplishments have happened because I spend time with people who are more active, more outgoing and more energetic than myself.
Friends have a way of influencing our lives. Choose them wisely.
My coworkers, neighbours and long time school friends who I go to movies and dinner with, I cherish the time our families spend together. From my yoga friends I achieve the calm moments everyone needs, my book club friends encourage discussion and have me reading again, and my crafty friends rekindle my creative side.
Six Kinds Of Toxic Girlfriends
If it is a more active lifestyle you seek, join a new class, a new gym, an outdoor adventure group, a learn to run, swim, or bike group. Take up spinning, become involved in yoga, learn to rock climb or sail. At all of these places I guarantee you will find people who want to do the same things you do. Make a commitment to join these new friends and be open to all the crazy ideas they propose.
If you want change to happen, you need to make a change.
Find people who enjoy, support and excel at that things you want to do. You will be inspired and motivated and gain many new adventures from these new friends and in turn will become an inspiration yourself.
So who wants to be my new friend?
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