Circles and Movement • A Prompt to Activate the Whole You

CIRCLES AND MOVEMENT

As I begin this new year of writing prompts for Activating The Whole You, it feels important to share my own journey with exercise and chronic pain.

CIRCLES AND MOVEMENT • MY JOURNEY 

I was a chubby little girl. No matter how much others wanted me to lose weight, I just grew bigger. I even had a pediatrician give me diet pills (amphetamines) when I was in Grade Six. They didn’t stop me from eating, but I sure did have trouble sleeping. I was obese for my age and just kept gaining.

Fat: the word followed me everywhere. People took one look at me and expected me to be lazy. I didn’t disappoint them. I avoided physical activity and instead developed my intellect. I believe the true me was buried beneath layers of excess flesh, but I didn’t know how to set her free.

By my mid-twenties, I weighed between 275 and 280 pounds. In a new relationship, with love-struck wonder, I lost my appetite. I would cook and bake for him, but I ate little myself. Then I found pounds slipping away. With a new sense of possibility, I began to modify my food intake and gradually incorporated daily exercise. In just less than a year, I had lost 125 pounds.

CIRCLES AND MOVEMENT • SEASONS

The new me was addicted to exercise and pursued it as a career. Throughout my fourth decade of life, I was a fitness instructor and personal trainer. When I turned 43, I met my Canadian husband (a miracle that is a long story of its own) and moved to rural Manitoba. Without all the fancy aerobic fitness equipment I had always had access to, the weight began to return even while I still tried to manage my food intake.

Eventually, ever-present chronic back, knee, and other traveling pains have left me exhausted and sedentary. My mind knows that movement is necessary, but my body has not been willing to cooperate. So, I have come full circle, back to where I started: overweight, stiff, and avoiding. I remember a song from my teen years:

And the seasons, they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return, we can only look
Behind, from where we came
And go round and round and round, in the circle game

Listen: Circle Game by Joni Mitchell

I was a bit awed by God’s sense of humor when I was asked to write this particular series of prompts, but I need this. We all need this, and if I can do it, anyone can.

CIRCLES AND MOVEMENT • ONE SMALL EXERCISE AT A TIME

Think of ripples in a pond. One dropped pebble creates circles that build and flow. Not a giant rock—one tiny little pebble. One small action on our part can be multiplied by God in amazing ways. You may feel that you can’t do much. Offer what you can do to the Lord with thanksgiving, and watch how He steps in to help.

Try exercises 1 through 4 at the link below: ankle, knee, arm, and shoulder circles. I began doing these on days when I felt too exhausted to stand. They are meant to be done lying in bed: circles from bed.

Try circling your wrists or your thumbs. No movement is too small. Begin where you can begin. Circles and movement—just one small exercise at a time. Jesus came as a helpless infant, and we know the rest of that story.

Let’s rejoice together in every victory, large or small.

Questions For Reflection

1. What is one action you can take to add a little more movement to your day?
2. How do circles resonate in your story?
3. Think about circles as you move through your day and how you might incorporate them in movement tomorrow.