"It's not like you have to saddle up the horse."

Yesterday was January 1st and part of my New Year's resolutions are to move my body every day. Over the past two years, I have run and worked out less and less. I've made all kinds of excuses. The main excuse is that since I moved to a different house, I can no longer just go "running out my door in the beautiful countryside." Well, I suppose I *could* do that in this house - run or walk a bit to get to safer roads, but it's really not safe, as I'd be on a 55 mph 2-lane highway for a half mile. 14 years ago, a good running friend of mine was hit and killed by a car while running. (She and her running buds were not even in the roadway.) So I'm very leery of running on roads with much traffic.

In any case, my excuse is: "I hate to have to drive a mile and a half to go running."

I realize that is a lame excuse and I need to just go do it. However, after spending 6 hours at work yesterday and another 4 with my daughter at Urgent Care (she's fine, nothing serious), I found myself making that excuse again. "Ughhhh... I've got to get in the car and drive a mile to the gym."

I gave myself a mental smack and said to myself, "Oh, come ON Jeanne... it's not like you have to saddle up the horse!"

Really, simply putting my butt in a car, turning a key, and mashing the gas pedal - that's what I've been complaining about for two years. How stupid is that? It's akin to, "I don't feel like stretching across the couch to reach the TV remote on the other end table." (I've made that excuse recently, too.) I think of my great-grandmother walking up and down the mountain to buy staples for her kitchen, chopping the heads off live chickens... what would she and others of that era think of my excuses??

I don't think I want to know.

So, whenever I'm feeling like something is too much effort, I think my new motivational catchphrase will be: "It's not like you have to saddle up the horse."