Here’s the text for the 18 November 2024 “Pause for Thought” I offered on the Breakfast Show with Zoe Ball on BBC Radio 2. Listen here.

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I went to a physiotherapist recently. The week after my 49^th-birthday. Somehow, on a 5K-run, I’d hurt my back. Hello, middle-age!

The physio said: You wanna keep running? You gotta build core strength. And the best way to do that, apparently, is lifting these ridiculous things called weights.

So, for the first time in my life, I have joined a gym. Y’all, it hasn’t been pretty. I didn’t know how to use the machines. My limbs buckled like noodles under the tiniest weights. And I had no idea about gym culture.

The very first exercise I tried was on a bench that, unknown to me, was marked as someone else’s bench, even though he was across the gym. He yelled out, Oy! I said: Sorry, first time.

A friend said I should have responded: Step-off, queen, I don’t know your routine. But I didn’t have that much confidence.

After a month of feeling clueless at the gym, I asked my physio for help. She introduced me to a personal trainer, Ricky, who asked what I wanted to achieve. I said: I’m not looking for bulging-biceps or a six-pack, I just wanna build stability, prevent injury, and keep running.

I am a control-freak. In recovery, yes – but I still like figuring things out by myself. My default stance is: leave me alone, I’ll sort it. At the gym, though, I couldn’t sort it. I had no idea what to do. So Ricky, in his kind-and-gentle way, is teaching me the basics. The right posture, how to hold the bar, how to safely add weight. I try his suggestions, I don’t get it perfect, but step-by-step I get a-little-better. My back feels good, I’m running again, and I have more body-confidence.

The good things in life require training. The Bible says: Physical training has some value, but spiritual training is useful for everything. It has promise for life now and – as Jesus says ­– for life to the fullest.

Whether we’re learning weights, or meditation and prayer – which part of my spiritual training ­– it’s awkward at first. Most of us need help. Welcome to being human.

I co-host the podcast Spill the Spirituality. Each episode I talk with diverse folks about what helps their spiritual training – from Bake-Off-winner Peter Sawkins to stand-up-comedian Helen Lederer to Radio2-presenter Owain Wyn Evans.

Whoever we are, we need each other. No six-packs promised, physical or spiritual. But step-by-step, life to the fullest.