First of all, Happy Qatar National Day! I hope you all had enjoyable National Day celebrations yesterday and took advantage of this blessed national holiday. As the title of this article goes, were you physically active yesterday? If you have off today as well, will you be physically active before the day ends? Yes, no, maybe, whatever your answer, let’s talk about being active during short, ‘staycation’ holidays…
So, is being on holiday an excuse to not workout? Especially if you are staying in town, of course not! Being on holiday is the prime time to take advantage of your free time and squeeze in at least 20-30 minutes of medium intensity activities. Think about it, you might want to initiate working out as a routine event in your daily programme but need a few days to get on it, this long weekend would have been one of the best opportunities to get that lifestyle going, and trust me, it is not too late.
Why workout during your staycation when your time off might be extremely valuable to you? True, you might highly value your time off because you are working all the time or maybe even barely get time off, but stop and listen to yourself. If you really do appreciate and value your time off and always tell yourself that now I can finally have time for myself or with my family, ask yourself, is self-care not important? Especially when it comes to your alone time or your family, teaching yourself to just take a few minutes of your day off to better yourself is crucial. Why wouldn’t you want to take care of yourself? You say you value your time off, do you value yourself too? Why wouldn’t you want to feel those positive endorphins and that post-workout boost of energy? How about your family? Why not take the time to show them how self-care is important and that ‘our health is our wealth.’ The future generations need to understand and realise the importance of self-care, mental health, physical health and overall wellness and it is our job to help guide them in that direction.
Let’s discuss options. Getting active on your holiday is quite simple and I don’t have to explain to you how to do it but let’s talk options. Think about what you want to do and how you can achieve it. Maybe you want to hit the gym because you missed a day last week. Maybe you want to go for a slow jog or speed walk in this beautiful winter weather. Why not take your partner, family and/or children to the park or corniche to walk and move your bodies, or even in your own home garden. Okay, maybe you don’t even want to leave your home and you just want to relax, why not do a quick 20 minute bodyweight workout? You can easily search simple at home routines online or even make it up as you go. Fine, maybe you don’t feel motivated enough or are extremely tired, there is still something you can do…stretch. Stretching, in my personal opinion, is still considered a low intensity workout and comes with so many benefits if done properly. Now you really have no excuse, especially if you keep telling yourself and others that your day off is to relax and do nothing, perfect, stretching is relaxing! Remember, anything is always better than nothing.
Regardless of what you did or didn’t do on our beautiful National Day, today is a new day and you still have time to get out and get active. Don’t forget, you have the weekend as well and if you didn’t do anything yesterday, what’s your excuse today?
*The author is a wellness advocate and influencer @keys2balance.
Reem Abdulrahman Jassim al-Muftah
