That’s the key to exercise – finding something you want to do over the long term. That means you have to enjoy it. It has to both challenge you and make you feel good. Maybe you’ll take a break from it here and there, but ultimately, it draws you in.

I get we need to be reminded sometimes. But why is it that when we are feeling tired, we need to be told to sleep? Can we not tell that stress is making us feel stressed and about to bitch-slap someone? Are we so disconnected from our hormones that we can’t tell when we are horny?

As my brain tried to zero in on my pointed middle-finger in Warrior II, his voice seemed to get louder and more insistently crude words frothed at his lips. I wanted to drop the rest of my fingers and just leave the middle one pointed in his direction. Still, as I struggled to breathe more deeply, to fight against the insistence of my brain to focus only on him and my reactions, I got the lesson for something else I was currently struggling with in my life. And focus is the key to both.