We’ve all heard people we work with say, “I’m going to PT.” That’s when they pause from work and use their allotted time to do a workout of some sort.  There are many squadrons that allow PT during the duty day, but some members are able to workout individually.  After all, it is part of the mission, we must include it in our mission time, right? Unfortunately, there are some that aren’t allowed time during the duty day. (sorry folks)

I typically have physical fitness time three days a week if I’m able to finish up and head out of the office. Lately, I haven’t done it as much as I’d like to, but that’s okay.  Some days are busier than others and the work has to be done. This has been the normal for the last 7 years of my career. Although, I’ve done it as a squadron during the duty day, as an individual during my lunch break, and sometimes at the end of the duty day when I’m finished with my work. 

Many other people take PT time during the duty day as an individual or with their office or squadron. It’s great! We need to be fit, right? It’s a part of our mission! It’s necessary that we are able to invest in our fitness wellness. 

Today, I finished up what I needed to and since it was my ‘PT’ day, I left the office to get a run in. That’s my go to workout. I love running! I got home to change into my gear and thought to myself, “I ran Monday, what I really need is mental time.”  I felt I needed time to gather my thoughts and emotions.  Have you ever felt that you just needed time to think?  It was one of those moments. 

This sparked another thought. “What if I needed spiritual time? What if I needed social time?”  Why is it always PT time and not other parts of resiliency? Perhaps we can, but we just need to be deliberate about it.  And I’m not talking about whatever classes your base offers that require you to sit and watch a powerpoint.  That’s extremely formal and almost seems superficial. 

I’ve never heard anyone say, “I’m going to mental, spiritual or social time,” during the day and I believe it’s because our culture has bred the idea that it’s only about PT during this ‘free time.’ 

“Cultivate resilience.” – Brene Brown

I want to challenge you, as you use your ‘PT’ time and think about the other areas of resiliency that we typically don’t set time aside for like we do PT.  We all need to be at the top of our game and to be well rounded we need to build our strength in our physical, social, mental and spiritual areas. So if you are good in your PT area for that time, think about other areas you could spend time on in order to build up your resiliency.  After all, isn’t resiliency a part of the mission too?

Let’s not neglect the other areas of resiliency just because the standard has been taking that specific time for PT only.  If we want stronger team members, we need to change how we look at PT ‘time’ and make it ‘Resiliency Time’ so you can focus on whatever area you feel you need that day or that week.  Maybe you need to work on more than one area during that time.  Doing PT is great for PT, but let’s not forget the other areas that make us resilient too! The cultured approach has to be challenged and perhaps, this is how we build a culture of resilient team members: by changing how we think about that ‘free time’ we get in the week to ‘work out.’