I really don’t enjoy exercising and I never have. I do it regularly, or at least I try to, because otherwise I feel awful and have no energy. But I have often wondered what is wrong with me that I struggle so much to find motivation to exercise. When does it get easier? All these other people seem to be effortlessly showing up to the gym on Saturday mornings. I can’t even get myself to put on running shoes on a random Tuesday morning when I have nothing else to do.

You know what I do enjoy? A tidy house. Keeping the house tidy comes naturally to me and I don’t have to make myself an extensive schedule or hire someone to help me learn to organize. I might sigh and complain while I do it, but unless I am horribly sick the house is going to be neat and tidy before I go to bed every night. And it doesn’t take hours to summon up the willpower to make it happen. Like magic, the motivation is always there.

It finally occurred to me the other day: my compulsion to tidy must be similar to what other people experience around exercise. They aren’t signing up for the 10K because they need a reason to get on the treadmill every week, they’re signing up for that 10K because they actually want to run a 10K.

This basic realization has changed my attitude toward exercise. I will always dislike exercise, that’s just how I am. I will always need to make myself goals and have friends who hold me accountable. It will always be a battle to get my running shoes on. But it’s not a moral failure to dislike exercise, just like it’s not a moral failure to have a messy house.

Motivation comes in all different flavors.