Other helpful self-images: another side note to induced exercise.

Commenter "4ddintx" had a good comment on the post about choosing activities to form a self-image as an athlete:

Just had a thought this morning that being a dancer is another identity that someone may have in terms of their fitness. Not usually what I think of under the category of "athlete" but definitely in the same vein. 

What a great point!  The point is to cultivate a self-image that inherently implies regular physical exertion and training.  "Athlete" is the one that I've worked to develop in myself; "dancer" is another.  I suppose some dancers think of themselves as athletes first and performers second!

Really, any descriptor  that appeals to you will do, as long as it implies the need for physical training and fitness to keep up the skill, and as long as the activity you choose makes sense within that context.  Can we come up with more?  Gymnast?  Circus artist?  I can't think of a concise noun for it, but an image of someone who is capable of fairly hard physical labor might also be helpful -- think of how fit you'd have to be if you worked, say, as a landscaper.

Are you a parent, homeschooling or otherwise, or another sort of mentor?  How about cultivating a self-image as a trainer, coach, fitness instructor?  I'm just throwing it out there.    Does your work, paid or not, make you a role model?  (Health care professional?  Educator?)   How about internalizing that and turning it into "I am a person who sets a good example by getting regular exercise?" 

There's room for a lot of creativity here, and you may even think of a completely original self-image.  Reinhard Engels (he of the No-S Diet and other everyday systems) came up with an excellent one for, well, walking wherever you have to go:  he calls it the Urban Ranger.  The image is borrowed from Lord of the Rings:

Remember Strider, in Lord of the Rings? They didn't call him Sneaker or Sprinter or Sworder, though he possessed these skills in abundance. His distinctive quality, the important, even lethal skill, for which he was named, was that of walking rapidly and mindfully over great distances. Not only could he thus outpace his enemies, but he came to outknow them.

A lethal skill? Well, you say, that's fantasy. OK, skeptic, how did the army of Alexander the Great get to India? They walked. How about the Grande Armee of Napoleon, how did they get all the way from Paris to Moscow? Not on the concorde. For thousands of years winning a war was largely a matter of being there before your enemy. Forced marches routinely left a great deal more than every tenth man dead from exhaustion. So get the aqua sweatpants out of your mind, this is man stuff!

See what I mean?  Reinhard totally made that up, but it's a fantastic reimagining of the self, no?  (At least for anyone who doesn't have kids between ages 3 and 11).

What else can you think of?  Who else can you be?

ADDED:  I happened upon the blog of Deb, a Search and Rescue volunteer, who happened to mention:

Well, it's time to trade my pajamas for spandex and a cotton tee and head to Jazzercise. I'm still trying to lose some pounds off of me and up my fitness level in preparation for that "3 miles in 45 minutes with a 45-pound pack" test for the Technical Rescue Team. 

Add "technical rescue team" to the list of helpfully motivating self-images.  If it's your volunteer calling, or job, to save other people's butts, it helps if yours gets off the couch now and then.

Comments

[RecollectedStephanie]

This is such a wonderful thread. And you've at last gotten to the walkers! This, I think, is where I need to be. Deliberate exercise seems silly to me if it involves ...um ... well, athlete stuff. I'm not an athlete -- but walking? That just happens to be how I stayed thin and flexible when I was younger ... so why am I sitting here?

[Kelly]

I suppose some dancers think of themselves as athletes first and performers second!

Cheerleaders think of themselves as athletes. Dancers think of themselves as artists.

I attended a performing arts high school, and I don't think dancers have the healthy lifestyle of athletes, generally.

[4ddintx]

I just see my dd's 2 main ballet teachers--one is in her 40's and is in great shape (She teaches at a studio, plus at the university). The owner of the ballet studio is in her 80's and still teaching 2 days per week. I doubt either have often done crunches or jogged or anything. Their craft is movement and that movement keeps them healthy. I know many high school athletes aren't really living healthy lifestyles, so some of that may be age related.

My older dd that dances has offered to teach me ballet lessons so I can keep in shape. I may need to take her up on it!

I am seeing Erin's point of having an identity connected with your exercise. I'm enjoying the DVD's I'm doing at the moment, but unless I start teaching fitness classes I can't imagine them becoming part of my identity. Though maybe some jazzercisers with their legwarmers and ponytails did achieve "identity" in the 80's?!? I'm realizing that my DVD's are going to have to be a springboard of sorts into another activity (That may still include the DVD) for me to have an identity related to my fitness--which is really what I want so I can be an example to my 6 dd's. I want them to see their Mom take fitness and physical activity as seriously as I do their nutrition.

Tabitha
Tabitha

[Air Jordan]

What a great blog! It is a pity that I can not find RRS address. If RRS offers a subscription service, I can easily follow your blog!

[Lindsey]

I have to argue, Kelly. I was on drill team in junior high and high school, and also did Israeli folkdancing in HS (I know it sounds like that wouldn't give you a workout, but trust me). I thought of myself as a dancer, and that was in terms of cardiovascular endurance and flexibility first, performance second. You have to be able to DO a dance before you can PERFORM it... it that makes sense. (I will concede that if the folkdancing had been my only dance, I may have thought of performance first.) Recently I've also realized that the reason I could never do some of the jumps that other girls could actually had more to do with strength than flexibility- it takes muscle to get those legs up fast! So I am working on getting back my self-image as a dancer, and the flexibility, endurance and strength that go with it!

[bearing]

Wow, that sounds intense! Thanks for commenting!