In today’s headline browsing, I scanned through an article that purported to explain why “eat less, move more” is the worst fitness advice possible. No, I don’t recall the “why.” But what did catch my eye was this phrase:

Fitness is a skill, not a talent.

My brain stuck on the sentence. I felt a little dim for not knowing the difference, frankly.

But, in a move that shows maybe I’m on the right track here, I hit the back button a couple of times to get to the link and read a piece by the founder of Fitocracy. In it, he explains talents  as the fixed, immutable, stuff we’re born with and skills as growth areas—habits we can pick up and hone.

The author points out that riding a bike is a “universally” acknowledged skill—you don’t fall off a bike on your first ride and decide that you are fundamentally and forever unable to ride a bike. You see that others fall, try again, and eventually become bike riders. You know that you can, too.

Being healthy, then, is not a talent. It’s a skill that you can develop, revisit, and master over time. It’s also a skill that you can let lapse.

It’s up to you to allocate your willpower and motivation—both of which are limited resources—and sometimes that will mean a lot of mental and physical and even emotional energy going toward fitness, and other times that’ll mean the rest of life needs your attention and fitness falls by the wayside. Heck, if you’ve carefully established what healthy, well, and fit feel like to you, they will actually carry you through the harder bits of life.

The key, as always, is developing a habit so that your skill—taking care of yourself—becomes second-nature. That, and knowing that fitness isn’t some destination or some quality handed out to special sparkly wonder-people at birth.

Practice, improvement, adjustment, compassion, and excellence all have their place in your world of wellness. So, cut yourself some slack, own your decisions, cheer your triumphs, and build your skills every day. Move and improve, as Emily Easton likes to say! 

Read more at lifehacker.