I’m taking my last prerequisite course for physical therapy school this semester — exercise physiology.

I imagined I would relish learning more about how exercise affects the human body. And, I expected it would give me extra motivation to move my body in all of the ways it needs.

But that didn’t happen.

I haven’t enjoyed this class, and I’ve been trying to figure out why. Is it because I’m in class with students who are twenty-plus years younger than me? Is it because I don’t know the professor or any fellow students? Is it because there’s a glare on the screen that shows the PowerPoints that makes my eyes work extra hard to focus? Is it because most of the studies we cover are about athletes, but I’m more interested in the general population?

I’m not sure of the answer, but I do know that the class hasn’t helped my exercise habits. Instead, I felt overwhelmed by the many factors to consider when designing an optimal exercise program. The many, complicated, time-consuming recommendations feel like an enormous should.

If you’ve read this column for a while, you know I don’t like shoulds.

This semester, I’ve dropped several already established exercise habits because I felt like I couldn’t achieve the recommendations for optimal exercise. I felt defeated, and I ignored my philosophy on exercise.

I prefer a simple, doable approach to exercise and habit change. That means doing exercise I enjoy, fitting it into my day in seamless ways, and starting with the two-minute version of a new habit like “Atomic Habits” author James Clear recommends.

I didn’t realize I was following the “go big or go home” approach to exercise until I started re-reading “The Love Prescription: 7 Days to More Intimacy, Connection, and Joy” by Drs. John and Julie Gottman. When I read the introduction chapter title “Small Things Often,” I realized I wasn’t practicing this with exercise. The Gottmans say, “Tiny little doses, every day, is what it takes to make a healthy relationship.” But “Small things often” can equally apply to your health and well-being.

After doing small things that support your health most days, you begin to see positive change. And, we can build on those small things and increase them over time.

By starting small, we believe we can do it. We feel good about what we’ve accomplished instead of feeling like a failure. Our success — and hopefully feeling better along the way — makes us want to keep going and to do more.

So, I’m beginning again. I’m starting small and not worrying about all of the exercise recommendations I’ve learned about this semester. Doing “small things” is better than doing nothing. We all need to start somewhere, and I’m starting there.

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Joanna Zaremba is a writer, yoga teacher, and movement and mindset coach. She helps her clients to trust themselves and their bodies. Joanna has lived in the Pikes Peak Region since 2011 and can be reached at joannazaremba@gmail.com.