5 Lessons From Slowing Down During Shutdown

It’s needless to say that things have not only been different during these past few months, but they’ve also been pretty uncomfortable. We tend to resist change – especially when it’s unplanned – and very few of us envisioned the year 2020 being marker by a global pandemic.

Through major, ongoing, unpredictable change like this, we arrive at one of a few different conclusions.

We can embrace the change.

We can ignore the change.

We can deny the change.

We can promote the change.

We can protest the change.

Or we can even sit down right where we’re at and try to resist the change.

No matter our response, we also have the option of whether or not to learn from the change.

(You don’t have to like or love the change in order to learn from it.)

As we move forward – even if that sometimes looks like moving backward – we can reflect on some keywords that signify lessons learned from slowing down during the shutdown.

For each keyword, we’ll take a brief look at what to embrace, what to resist, and a specific application for your fitness.

1. Rest

Embrace: Opportunities to slow down and reflect on big decisions, important events, or the biggest or smallest blessings God has given you.

Resist: Filling up every square inch of your calendar with planned activities. Likewise, resist going totally structure-less by being intentional with your rest time.

For your fitness: Workout hard and rest harder. Take your rest times/days as seriously as you take your workout times/days for your best chance at reaching full recovery and peak energy.

2.  Unity

Embrace: Recognizing how much you have in common with those with whom you get along best, as well as those with whom you don’t typically agree with. Pursuing unity here is much more helpful and life-giving than creating division. 

Resist: Creating riffs among friends, family, coworkers, or strangers just for kicks. Intentionally stirring the pot with others will not be worth a few minutes of snickering, nor will it be worth the bigger riffs that could affect them on deeper levels.

For your fitness: Lift others up in their fitness journeys as you scroll through your feeds. Make an effort to unite each other with your words and actions.

3.  Uncertainty

Embrace: Taking any given situation one minute at a time. Stay informed with updates from sources you trust, and continue to make decisions based on your full base of knowledge.

Resist: Jumping to conclusions prematurely or without real evidence of a solution. Now is not the time to create more uncertainty by taking shots in the dark about what to do, how to react, or who to blame.

For your fitness: Do what you can with what you have. You can always leverage your own body weight and mechanics to create fantastic workouts, but you can also get creative by using things around the house – rather than simply wishing you had access to your gym again. Don’t wish away this time that you have now. 

4.  Loss

Embrace: Grieving alongside others who are hurting due to loss in their jobs, businesses, or family matters. Use this time to reflect on God’s goodness and His steadfast character. 

Resist: Tossing blame around recklessly, and wallowing in self-pity for too long. Grieving is different than wallowing.

For your fitness: Accept what’s true and out of your control, while putting measures in place to help mitigate further loss in your fitness level or overall health.

5.  Gain

Embrace: Celebrating the small and large wins in your daily life! Go out of your way to help celebrate the wins of others as they succeed in gaining in one area of their life or another.

Resist: Comparing the gains of others to your lesser or non-existent gains in some area of your lives. Gains in your own life are worth celebrating, but not idolizing.

For your fitness: Track many different data metrics in order to find different areas of progress besides just using scale weight and resistance load. There are many other ways to assess progress toward fat loss and strength. Celebrate these non-scale victories along the journey.