Physical Fitness
PERSONAL SUSTAINABILITY
The longer I had been at UWC, the more serious classes became, eventually reaching the point that it had dominated most of my time. At the end of my first semester, I realized that exercises played an important role in reducing my stress and keeping me distracted from the amount of work at hand. Though, whenever I was overloaded with work, I tended to prioritize finishing them before my own health. Realizing this tendency, I joined the physical fitness ExEd to push myself into regularly going to the gym.
The physical fitness ExEd did not have a fixed meeting time. Rather, it gave me the freedom to go to the gym whenever I would like with the minimum requirement of once a week, using a self check in system. I did not allow myself to indulge in this low demand and open trust system, though. Instead, I pressed myself to always go over the minimum, starting from 2 times per week before increasing the goal to every other day. By the end of the semester, I counted over the days I have marked in my planner and realized that my longest streak was over 2 weeks!
The structure of the ExEd also contributes to this. As there was a specific time range that worked best for me for working out – particularly the middle ground for when a break in my work was needed, my motivation for working out was high, and the amount of time before my sleep was not too little that it would keep be active throughout the night – the free system allowed me to go to the gym at my own preferred time which I kept consistent throughout the week. This way, a routine is built, and I was exceptionally proud of myself as I have set goals and followed through all on my own account.
By late March, I could feel my strength growing. Beside this and the original goal in relieving my stress which was achieved a long time ago, the established workout routine served as the foundation pillars for more routines around the time. For an instance, I began reading books after exercises to calm myself down. Subsequently, it also got turned into something I must do before sleeping everyday. My success in establishing a routine also motivated me into picking up more interest and setting goals in them.
