In the last issue of the Adventure Journal, I mentioned my Three Words for 2021: Fitness, Innovate, and Story. In my explanation of Fitness, I mentioned a vision of fitness going beyond physical fitness alone to all areas of life: spiritual, physical, relational, mental, financial, and emotional fitness. I have written journal entries and notes to Nancy about my desire to live a holistic approach to fitness, while too many times failing before I ever started out of a fear of failure.<\/p>\n
In a book I recently read as part of my mental fitness exercise, the author shared a quote from James Russell Lowell, \u201cNot failure but low aim is crime.\u201d I was moved with the reality of my own fear of failure keeping me from even attempting to set reachable, yet challenging goals. I made the decision on March 1 that I was going to do a reset and set some realistic goals that were less about results and more about the experience. I am intentionally getting up around 5am each weekday morning for a time of devotion, prayer, reading, and physical exercise. This encompasses four areas: Physical, Emotional, Mental, and Spiritual. Previously, I had been waking up around 5:30-5:45 to do my devotions, pray, and read, but was not engaging my physical body in daily fitness. I had to make the change to my wake-up pattern in order to engage the physical arena. What has been an added bonus is that three of the five days, Nancy and I walk together in the morning, which provides a time of relational fitness.<\/p>\n
I want to invite you to consider how you are living a life of holistic fitness engaging all these areas of life. My intentionality in fitness came out of a decision to make a change. There could no longer be a wavering or negotiating out of fear of failure. I had to set the plan and stick to it. I notice growth in my life because of this intentionality. I see how the Holy Spirit is using what I am reading, studying, and considering to take me to deeper places with Jesus. I see how my writing and preaching is becoming richer as I spend more time in the Scriptures each morning. I feel stronger physically and notice I have more energy. Where do you need to make a change to become fitter in certain areas of your life?<\/p>\n
I look forward to sharing my fitness journey with you in upcoming editions of the Adventure Journal. I would love to hear your stories of changes you have made and stories of transformation coming from a life focused on being holistically fit (matt@livingtheadventure.net<\/a> or 618-830-6670).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the last issue of the Adventure Journal, I mentioned my Three Words for 2021: Fitness, Innovate, and Story. In my explanation of Fitness, I mentioned a vision of fitness going beyond physical fitness alone to all areas of life:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t