Spontaneity: A Realized "Barrier" to Exercise with Asthma

While I am aware that it is because of asthma that I got “into” (read: semi-interested in) any sort of physical activity at all, asthma does really hinder the whole spontaneity thing.

Let’s be honest, the window in which I want to exercise in is usually about 5 minutes long. If I don’t act within those 5 minutes, I am going to lose the jive.
Yes, even people with gym degrees have these problems. At least some of us.
If I pre-medicate for exercise, I am a bit more motivated to actually pursue the activity. After all, I don’t want to have just taken medicine for no reason. But at the same time, sometimes the prep work in exercising with asthma is enough of an annoyance to dissuade me.

Always having my inhaler at hand

There are some activities I can do more spontaneously. If I’m going on a walk that I am going to keep relatively slow and short, or if I’m going to tackle some bodyweight stuff (like planks or squats) I can slip those in without too much prep, like pre-medicating. However, today, when I decided I was going to head out for a walk (to, humorously, conjure writing ideas!) I was almost out of the house quickly when I realized I didn’t know where my rescue inhaler was. I’ve on occasion accidentally gone out for a walk without my inhaler, but for this go, especially since I was not pre-medicating, that wouldn’t be a smart move. Once I found my inhaler, and found my keys (thanks, Tile), I realized that I didn’t have front pockets in the shorts I was wearing, so I had to dig up a Tallygear clip pack for my inhaler. (Honestly, Tallygear* at least makes me smile a bit about the whole requiring pockets thing.)

Asthma is, of course, irritating at the best of times. But when you’re already doing something good for yourself, something that is about third or fifth on the list of things you actually would rather be doing—because we all know that eating cupcakes is, like, #1 on that list—then, it’s even more irritating to have to stop and take time for asthma. It’s irritating to have to take an inhaler 15 minutes (your interval may vary) before you exercise, irritating to have to make sure you have an inhaler with you just in case, irritating to have a stupid disease that makes doing things that are good for you harder! I would like to say if I didn’t have asthma, I’d exercise more because of the increased spontaneity, however, it’s only because of asthma exercise became a thing in my life, so this is probably an incorrect statement.

There’s a lot of spontaneity in my life—this works well for me, and I am appreciative of it even though I know many people would not feel the same! But when exercise is the thing, I can’t be spontaneous about, it’s frustrating. It’s kind of like writing—I need to do it when the vibe (or muse!) hits, and not when my lungs dictate the inhaler should be working to prevent any exercise induced bronchospasm! The truth is that we can find self-made barriers in anything, and this irritation with needing to pre-medicate for exercise, truly, is a self-created “barrier”. It’s an extra step, an annoyance, but also? It’s part of my life. Both exercise and taking my inhalers are things I need to do to stay healthy.

So yes, I can do anything I want with asthma. We can do anything we want with asthma. This does not mean, though, that the inability to be spontaneous and the need to prepare for exercise isn’t annoying sometimes!

*I have no formal affiliation with Tallygear, I just love their stuff. In the interest of full disclosure, I have received products for free from Donna at Tallygear in the past (but I bought stuff from her first and was just very enthusiastic about it. Shocker!)