For some years now, running 5 km regularly has been a milestone that has eluded me. I have theorised on the many reasons: my regular once-a-fortnight running route is usually only 4.4 km, my brain is not yet geared to prime my body to run for 30 minutes, my children’s voice pops into my head at the 27-minute mark (which is roughly the time I hit 4.4km distance wise), I don’t have enough time over the weekend to spare after all the visits and errands, etc. The list goes on.
I have run 5 km before in the past years, but at a low frequency of once a year. Last Sunday, I decided to give 5 km a shot, to break that psychological barrier. Surprisingly, I found it relatively easy, having aimed for a manageable pace right from the start. I hope to regularly run this distance this year, in pursuit of running 10km at one go – a feat that I’ve only done once in my life at the youthful age of 19.
I have long observed that in my runs, the first ten minutes are usually the most painful. I feel my heart and lungs working harder, and my legs dragged down by inertia. Once I persist through this period, I usually find myself overcoming the inertia and settling into a comfortable rhythm. Thereafter, it is simply a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. If I maintain a consistently comfortable pace, I find myself thinking that I could run further if not for the promises made to my children that “Dad will be back in 45 minutes”.
Contrary to what most people think, my exercise regime consists of episodes of regular physical activity alternated with ‘lull’ episodes. My top form is when I’m on a streak of 3-4 sessions per week, no doubt facilitated by my own good health, the children not taken ill, no pressing deadlines for my da’wah/ islah work, and a manageable workload in my professional life. My low periods are usually beset by urgent priorities, when I would have to just make do with the minimum, with the intention of bouncing back. During these hectic periods, physical wellness would take the form of ensuring sufficient sleep throughout the week and simple calisthenics at home for 15-20 minutes a week.
Setting the habit of regular exercise provides an excellent model to scaffold other habits and routines in our lives. These other habits and routines can be part of developing positive characteristics such as having a healthy body and mind, regularly fighting our nafs, having good akhlaq, being efficient with time, being organized in all our affairs, being useful to others, etc.
Regular exercise is a starting point for me only because sports was a regular feature of my upbringing and education, and I enjoy it tremendously. For some of you, it may be the other way around. Tilawah Al-Qur’an, reading difficult non-fiction books, or even cooking gourmet dishes may be the thing which you find tremendous joy and commit to doing daily. You may wish to consider how you can use these existing positive habits and routines as a scaffold to develop other positive characteristics in you.
Take regular reading (tilawah) of the Qur’an for example: some of us need the motivation from others through a daily updating system in a chat group to help break the psychological barrier of reciting a certain number of pages daily and reflecting on selected verses. With such motivation, it helps us in overcoming the inertia and settling into a comfortable rhythm in reciting the Qur’an. It drives us to find the right time of the day to recite, and persevere in the habit during periods when there are other pressing needs and demands in our lives, committing to still do the minimum with the intention of bouncing back.
This, in essence, is one of the ways to do islah (or reform) of the individual: take one positive aspect of their/our lives, boost it and encourage it to spillover to other areas of their/our lives, so as to overcome the negatives, to help themselves/ourselves be better Muslims.
May Allah make it easy for us to be steadfast and consistent in our pursuit of becoming better Muslims and activists, so that we may become exemplars to those around us and so that it may accelerate our da’wah and islah efforts.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the articles on The Ocean’s Ink are the authors’ own, written in their personal capacity. They may not reflect the view of The Ocean’s Ink or IMSGP as an organisation