By Dina Aldabbagh

Exercise is so fundamental to living a happy, fulfilled life that I’d contend that you could be at absolute rock bottom in life, but if you’re exercising daily, you are still in a better place in life — internally more than anything — than everyone who doesn’t exercise. It’s not going to be the solution to all of your problems, but funny enough, many of your problems do just melt away once you exercise daily. While it may not be the solution for everything, it is the foundation for every good thing in your life. Your commitment to exercise is your commitment to yourself. It’s saying, “Yeah, this is hard. Yeah, I don’t want to get up and do this. Yeah, it’s cold outside and I’m more comfortable right here. Yeah, I’m still going to have this problem, and this problem, and this problem even if I go to the gym right now. Yeah, one workout isn’t going to change my life — but this isn’t about one lift or one run, this is about me. This is about my devotion to myself. This is about proving to myself that I can do hard things, that I can see things through, that I don’t give up on myself. Me going right now to move my body is me proclaiming over my life that I will always have someone who takes care of me: myself.”

Let me tell you what you tap into when you just begin: confidence. It’s unfounded, it’s new. You’re only two weeks in, but suddenly the way you walk into rooms is different; you carry yourself differently. You are more sure of yourself, more sure of your identity, of your place in the world. You quite literally just feel good about yourself. You see zero differences in your body or your ability, but you just feel better. It is so addicting to feel good about yourself.  

Once you’re three months in, you see yourself as a different person. Exercise is a part of your daily life and shapes your identity. You see yourself as a person who not only can, but is willing to do hard things. You see yourself as someone who prioritizes your wellbeing and your goals over whatever else in your life. Every time you were tired, but still went to workout, every time you were so busy, but sacrificed something else to workout, every time you wanted to stop, but said, “just one more,” changed something within you; you see yourself as someone who can feel something and not act on it, whose decisions are final, who has integrity. 

Every single time you wake up early to workout because you have a day full of class, work, travel, or social activities, when you’re the only one in that gym at 5 am, you feel like a bad man. You feel immovable, formidable, impressive. There is no better feeling on earth than feeling impressive to yourself. No one knows how many early morning or late night workouts I’ve had to do because of my other commitments, because it’s not about them, nor is it for them; it’s for me. What you tap into when you exercise daily is self-validation; your source comes from within. What you tap into when you devote yourself to yourself daily, is God. It truly is a God-like sense of power. There is this trust you have with yourself, this feeling like you can achieve anything, this sureness that you can attract and foster and maintain goodness in your life. When you exercise daily, you feel like you’re something bigger than yourself; you tap into the divine. 

When you’re eight months in, you don’t just see yourself as a different person, you are one. Daily exercise has altered the way your brain looks at things. At this point, if not already, you start setting real fitness goals for yourself. Do a pull-up, hold a 5 minute plank, run a 10k. You set these larger goals for yourself that you must work towards consistently, and each step you take in pursuit of these goals only strengthens the growing evidence that you can achieve whatever you desire in life. By this point, if you’ve worked out daily for eight months, you’ve proven to yourself 240 times that you will show up for yourself. Imagine if a friend showed you 240 times that they’d stand up for you and show up for you under any circumstance, whether that be someone trying to bring you down or a 3 am emergency pickup  — you would trust this friend so implicitly. 240 renditions of proving something to someone is much more than most people can expect from another person, and you just did it for yourself. 

This is the kind of power you tap into from exercise. It’s bigger than human and it’s closer to God. The kind of power exercise brings a person is what the most ambitious people strive to feel. A healthy body and a profound trust within oneself is worth more than millions of dollars, and the best part is: it’s free. The kind of power and freedom and release you get from exercise doesn’t need to cost anything. You can use whatever you have at your fingertips to move your body. Real power doesn’t cost any money, but it’s worth more than millions — the real cost is sacrifice, discipline, and excuses. That’s what you have to pay to have this kind of power, and daily exercise serves as a daily portion of power from the fountain. Tap in daily. Go to the fountain daily and fill yourself up. 

Many people think that it’s unsustainable to exercise daily, I get it, I once did too. I wouldn’t have been able to imagine making the commitment I have, but that’s what happens when you tap into the fountain. Every day, you should exhaust the portion you have by the end of the day — it’s a different amount you can give daily — and every new day you will get refilled. Refill yourself with exercise, tap into the fountain of unlimited power.