I've never been the kind of person that loves working out. I rode horses for most of my life which I always counted as my workout, even though I knew I should be doing more. I certainly went through phases where I was more excited about working out, but they never lasted long. My kickboxing phase lasted the longest because I really like getting to hit things, but even that fell apart after a few months.

The thought of getting on a treadmill for 45 minutes makes me want to shoot myself, and I certainly refuse to run outside (or, honestly, run at all.) My parents are both super active and they both love running, so I've always associated running with fitness and seen running as The Way to be fit. But the problem is, I hate running. It's boring, it makes my ankles hurt, and I just plain don't like it. My protest against running has led to me not working out at all, which is obviously not ideal. The freshman 15 is real, y'all.

This semester, in an effort to have a better mental state and be fitter, I've decided to start working out. I've been working out consistently for a couple of weeks now, and I've never even set foot in a gym. With the awful Michigan weather, I can't be motivated to walk the half-mile or more to one of the two campus gyms. Plus, as we've already discussed, I hate treadmills. Ellipticals are slightly better, but not good enough to motivate me to actually make it to the gym. Instead, I realized that if I could work out in my own room, I'd be much more likely to do it. I ordered a yoga mat from Amazon and promptly let it sit in my closet gathering dust.

Two weeks ago, I took a look at the yoga mat and told myself that I didn't spend $25 on it for nothing, so I better get it together and start working out. I found an awesome app that has high-intensity interval workouts that are only 7 minutes long, and I did one of those every day for a week. It definitely wasn't the best or most challenging workout, but it was way better than nothing. Then I discovered Blogilates, and I fell in love. The energetic teaching, bright music, and challenging Pilates workouts are addictive to me, and I look forward to the 30 minutes I spend every day working out.

It took nearly 19 years, but I finally realized that working out doesn't have to suck. If you hate your workout, find something else! Hating your workout will make you unmotivated and much more likely to skip days and stay in bed watching Netflix instead of getting moving. I'm not sure I'll ever be someone that can go for long runs and genuinely enjoy it, but that's okay. When the weather's nice, I love going for long walks listening to music or talking to my friends. I love Pilates. I'm even learning to love yoga, which I never thought I'd like.

Ignore everything you've been told about what the best workout is. The best workout is the one that you'll do consistently. Even if that's just a 10 minute walk on your lunch break, it's better than sitting down for those 10 minutes. Find what you love to do and what makes you happy, and do that.