The Myth of Perfectionism

For some reason I still have this thinking that is all or nothing in terms of activity. For example, I was planning on going running after work yesterday, but I didn't really want to because of my glasses (I know, excuses, excuses, but I'm having a problem with my eye and have to wear my glasses for awhile). I was talking with Zachary and he says, "so just don't run, mommy". I was tempted to bag the whole thing, but then I said, "why don't we run together - just for one mile?" Many times Zach will be my "pace car" and ride his bike along while I run, but after his experience with the Weight Watcher 5K where he "ran 3 miles" (read: ran and walked the first lap and walked the second lap), I thought he might want to try running a bit. He was in! So we set out to run 1 mile together. It was cute because he said, "can you, like, leave the ipod at home and we can talk and stuff?" Done. So, we started out and got about 1/3 mile along and then he had to walk. I encouraged him to go at his own pace and catch up if he wanted to, but then I decided to just walk with him. He was happy I did. We walked at a good pace for about a mile total, but we were still able to talk together, laugh and share and just enjoy time together. It was nice. It was still some activity AND the bonus was I got some time with my son and role modeled healthy behavior of moving more!! I busted the myth of only being able to "count" my activity if it fits in a certain box (running at least 3 miles every time). It still counts and this particular time counts for even more than the calories burned. This time it was actually priceless. I have to remember that it is not important to stick to some prescribed perfect activity plan. Just move more on a regular basis and involve the people you love as much as possible!!