“If you tell me I’ve got to do an exercise routine…I dread it so bad,” she told Allure in 2021.
asserted
she → tell → 2021
Her workaround was “rejoicing exercises”: a freewheeling combination of gospel music, singing, stretching, shouting, and praising.
asserted
workaround → shout → music
“I do more ‘rejoicing’ than I do ‘working out,’” she said.
asserted
she → do → rejoicing
She occasionally added a few floor exercises and squats—especially, as she put it, “diddly-squats.”
asserted
she → add → squats
In doing so, she stumbled upon an important truth: Movement doesn’t have to feel like punishment to count.
asserted
Movement → do → punishment
“Dolly honored herself through movement,” says Michelle Segar, a lifestyle-change sustainability scientist at the University of Michigan and author of The Joy Choice: How to Finally Achieve Lasting Changes in Eating and Exercise.
asserted
Segar → honor → Eating
Parton tossed out the rules about what exercise was supposed to look like and designed something that reflected what she needed.
asserted
she → toss → what
“She knew this was for her,” Segar says.
asserted
Segar → know → her
“And because it was for her, she had to design it for herself.”
asserted
she → have → herself
That instinct—to stop chasing the supposedly perfect workout and start with movement that feels good, meaningful, or restorative—could make it easier to keep moving over time.
uncertain
it → stop → time
Here’s what we all can learn from Parton’s views on exercise and movement.
asserted
we → ’ → exercise
“Rejoicing exercises” were quintessentially Dolly
Parton’s routine combined the forces that shaped so much of her life: faith, music, and creative self-expression.
asserted
that → rejoice → life
She began singing in her maternal grandfather Jake Owens’ church at age 6, and later described feeling divinely inspired as a songwriter, says Leigh H. Edwards, a professor of English at Florida State University and author of Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music.
asserted
Edwards → begin → Parton
“She often approached her expression on her own terms,” Edwards says, “just as she did when she created her own Dolly image and charted her own trailblazing path for her career.”
asserted
she → approach → career
Judy Eaton, a professor of psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, teaches positive psychology—the study of how people flourish, rather than only how they struggle.
asserted
they → teach → psychology
She calls Parton “the poster child for positive psychology.”
asserted
She → call → psychology
Many of Eaton’s students arrive knowing Parton only from Hannah Montana.
asserted
Many → arrive → Montana
Eaton introduces them to her as an example of gratitude, optimism, and authenticity; after Parton passed away, former students emailed to say they were grateful her class had helped them understand who she was as a person.
asserted
she → introduce → person
Many people have absorbed the idea that there’s one correct way to exercise.
asserted
people → absorb → idea
“We as a society have been taught you’re supposed to exercise in this way for this long, and your body has to feel this way,” Segar says.
asserted
Segar → teach → way
“You have to breathe hard.”
asserted
You → have → ?
If you can’t—or simply don’t like it—“you don’t do it.”
asserted
it—“you → like → it
Public-health guidelines are useful for describing how much activity is associated with certain health benefits.
asserted
activity → describe → benefits
But they don’t necessarily tell people how to fit movement into hectic, unpredictable lives.
asserted
they → tell → lives
Fitness marketing has strengthened the idea that a workout only counts when it meets a particular standard, Segar says, creating an all-or-nothing trap: Do the “right” workout, or do nothing.
asserted
Segar → strengthen → nothing
Parton built her routine around what she would actually do.
asserted
she → build → what
Instead of deciding exercise wasn’t for her, she decided the gym-and-sweat version wasn’t for her.
asserted
version → decide → her
“We don’t start with the right way,” Segar says.
asserted
Segar → start → way
“We start with our way.”
asserted
We → start → way
Dr. George Hennawi, physician executive director of geriatrics and senior services at MedStar Health, sees particular value in that approach as people age.
asserted
people → see → approach
When he asks his patients what it means to age successfully, their answers usually involve continuing to do what they already love—whether that’s traveling, gardening, singing, or spending time with their grandchildren.
asserted
that → ask → grandchildren
“She flipped the equation,” Hennawi says of Parton.
asserted
Hennawi → flip → Parton
“What makes me happy?
asserted
me → make → ?
How do I define living successfully, living happily, aging well?”
asserted
I → define → ?
Her answer, as he sees it: “I don’t love exercise—let me bring exercise to the stuff that I love to do.
asserted
I → see → that
That also means reconsidering why you’re moving.
asserted
you → mean → ?
Goals like losing weight or preventing a disease years from now can be “abstract, future, often even shame-producing reasons for exercise,” Segar says.
asserted
Segar → lose → exercise
Parton’s reason was immediate and personal: She wanted to rejoice.
asserted
She → want → ?
“She’s using movement to fuel herself and live her life,” Segar says, “not to comply with doctor’s orders or to meet some standard of beauty.
asserted
Segar → use → beauty
Ask how you want movement to make you feel
“Joyful movement” is a useful phrase, but Segar encourages people to expand their vocabulary.
asserted
Segar → ask → vocabulary
…and 32 more, not listed.
The Aporia
