We have talked before about the fact that we are more likely to adhere to workouts in the long-run if we enjoy them. For a lot of people, the word “enjoy” is often synonymous with pleasure or fun. But what if we are engaging in the type of workout where these experiences are harder to come by - the kinds of activities that are inevitably uncomfortable?
For example, when we exceed a certain intensity in cardiovascular activities, chemical changes occur in our bodies that produce sensations that are inherently (i.e. naturally) aversive. Now how any one individual reacts to these sensations will differ according to many different factors, but research has shown that it is generally harder to maintain classic “positive” feelings during such activities. Equally, consider max-effort strength sessions - these require a different yet nonetheless taxing amount of focus and physical strain. Even long and slow endurance sessions that are not so physically uncomfortable in the moment require sustained attention in the face of little stimulation that many people find tedious.
To add to that, anything that creates such discomfort and unpleasant feelings is going to make negative thought patterns easier to access too. So for many people, the fun or pleasure-related side of enjoyment is likely to be more elusive in these kinds of activities, which means it can be helpful to look for other types of “enjoyment.”
One way of looking at different “types” of enjoyment is to consider a dichotomy often discussed in the field of positive psychology: hedonic versus eudaimonic enjoyment. Hedonic enjoyment refers to that pleasure-related, feel-good type of enjoyment (think laughing with friends, being engrossed in a movie or playing games). On the other hand, eudaimonic enjoyment refers to the kind of satisfaction we derive from experiences that bring us a sense of meaning in life or personal development (e.g. the satisfaction experienced when we finish something that was really difficult, the surge of inspiration we might feel when we read something that up-ends our worldview, or the sense of transcendence that might come with helping someone in an emergency).
We don’t have to be feeling emotionally positive to experience eudaimonia - in fact, it’s common to experience various uncomfortable feelings while doing a eudaimonically focused activity. But alongside those uncomfortable feelings exist feelings that reflect a deep sense of personal significance and progress in what we are doing, which make the discomfort worth enduring.
We can think about eudaimonia in relation to the second way we tend to use the verb “enjoy” in the English language: “to enjoy the benefits of.” We may not be enjoying ourselves in the classic sense of fun/pleasure when doing high-intensity interval sessions, but we are enjoying the benefits of deliberately exposing ourselves to that kind of discomfort.
So instead of pursuing classic feel-good experiences in such activities, it’s worth considering how to tap into more eudaimonic experiences that relate more to our values and the reasons for enduring discomfort. For instance, doing things of which we feel proud, creating a sense of daring or adventure, and cultivating curiosity or courage are all examples of positive experiences that don’t necessarily feel fun and relaxing or pleasurable in the hedonic sense, but still endow a challenging activity with positive meaning and hence facilitate our long-term participation.
Chloe
Psychology of Movement

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