The T-SQL Tuesday invite for July 2024 comes from Louis Davidson who asks us to consider what wise advice we would want to give our younger selves. Click the T-SQL Tuesday logo to read over the full invite.
Numerous studies have shown that sitting in front of a computer most of the day, hardly moving, is terrible for your body. In my case, it was also terrible for my mind. I would come home stressed and anxious, and I couldn’t find a way to relax. For these reasons, if I could go back to the start of my career, I would make my younger self promise to make exercise a priority.
When I graduated college and started working, I didn’t have much desire to do anything active after coming home from work. Stress and anxiety became a problem. Activities like watching TV or playing video games weren’t helping.
What I found to be a solution for me was running. I got a treadmill and started running every day (side note: I would also tell my younger self that running every day may have been a bit overkill). After running for a few years, I changed it up and bought the basic equipment for a home gym and began making it a priority to be active every day. At this point, it’s lifting weights four days a week, biking two days a week, and using Saturday to do some extra stretching and relax.
Exercise has its physical benefits, but more importantly for me, it clears my head. I’m can’t lie and say workouts themselves are relaxing. But there’s something about doing something physically difficult, pushing your limits, and seeing results.
I also like the idea of it just being a challenge against myself. I can’t track down who said it, but I like the quote “My only competition is who I was yesterday.” That’s the type of competition I needed to stay healthy.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, we adopted a new puppy a few days ago and he needs his exercise as well.
Thanks for reading!
Chad Callihan 