“Take yourself as a priority,” said Melanie Bean, co-speaker at last week’s “Walking Counts!” educational session designed to encourage students, faculty and staff to walk as an exercise regime.
Katie Hill, the other co-speaker, told the program participants she knows they have a lot of priorities, including jobs and studies that take away their time to exercise.
“We must protect our time for ourselves,” said Hill, program director and nutrition/body acceptance coordinator for VCU’s Office of Health Promotion, while discussing the importance of finding time to walk off stress and pounds.
After the walking program started, Hill said, it had a strong number of participants, but the numbers dwindled. For instance, some 66 people – mostly faculty and staff – walked early in the semester contrasted to the slightly more than half who continued in the program.
Like other habits, an individual’s motivation fades away.
“People try in the beginning, but then they fall off (track),” Bean said.
The two speakers’ Nov. 3 lecture covered motivation via assertiveness during the final phase of the 10-week program to help people prioritize exercise while conquering their hindrances.
Twenty predominantly middle- to older-aged women attended the assertiveness lecture to hear how they can express their views, beliefs and desires so that they are not suppressed by the demands of others and of their jobs.
“Assertiveness is in-between passive and aggressive, but it is a way of taking action,” Hill said, describing it as a four-step achievement plan. “Nothing will change until the person recognizes his/her situation. Many people have a problem with saying ‘no,’ so ask yourself if you want to continue being weak.”
The second step involves self-expression, whereby a person describes his/her problem in detail, conveys opinions and suggests changes to remedy the problem. During this step, Hill reminded the women that they find an appropriate way to assert themselves in situations that affect them.
Step three relates to practicing the art of assertive reactions. Bean and Hill role-played problem situations with assertive interaction, and they then asked the audience to relate their future life situations in this manner.
The fourth and final step involves applying assertiveness.
Both speakers advised the audience to start with minute problems and to build confidence before moving to major issues.
In concluding the program, the two speakers told the women that assertiveness relates to walking and exercising their bodies.
“Remind yourself that you take yourself as a priority,” Hill suggested. “Go out on your walk. Keep in mind what your barriers are to walking and how to prevent them from losing your motivation.
“It is vitally important to continue to make walking a regular part of your personal routine and future. No matter where you are it is important to try to get some exercise. Whether its 10 minutes or 30 minutes a day, it’s important to get some exercise wherever you are.”
After the lecture, one audience member described the program as great.
“The organizers have been supportive and continued to provide incentives for all of us participating,” she said. “It definitely has given me some info about my daily habits that I would not have noticed otherwise. I will definitely keep up with the walking.”