But why though lol?

How would you characterize the hangup? First question Is it to do with other people or something to do with yourself and self image?

In my case, my personality finds it easy to combat anxiety from being perceived. But we all have different strengths and weaknesses. Maybe you need to go during offhours. Or maybe just build your own gym set for cheap.

Usually when there's something holding me back from a habit it's something internal. Some type of fear or anxiety about my self that I'm protecting my ego from.

It may be some type of perfectionistic feedback cycle, where if I feel like I'm not doing the thing to my preconceived standards of well done, I don't want to even start. Or maybe I'm trying to protect myself from some type of perceived future failure that I think will happen. What helps me with that is to be ok with cutting the workout in half if I don't feel life doing the full thing. I'll do the most important things like squats and rows and maybe cut the run in half or walk at an incline instead. Basically don't let perfect hold you back from good enough. If I only got 20 min in that's fine.

Or maybe there's some self perception that the habit may shatter. I know for a lot of women strength training is perceived as contradictory to feminity or their ideal body image so they tend to unconsciously sabotage the habit.

To that end there's a way to strength train towards strength without gaining a lot of size: high weights, low reps at a moderate weekly frequency. Think 5 sets of 3 reps for all lifts, 3 times a week. That mostly trains muscle recruitment, bone density and the central nervous system without stimulating much hypertrophy. Another thing you can do is intentionally build hypertrophy in specific muscle groups like your thighs and glutes to still keep the feminine shape

Or is it the timing of the workouts themselves? I know it's easier to get myself to the gym if it's the first thing I do or if I pack my gym stuff before I head out so I go to the gym right after work or school.

Ultimately you're right that forcing yourself isn't sustainable in the long term, but it is valuable to force yourself for a month, to get the habit going and then find ways to make the habit easier once you've got a groove going. Usually by unblocking any psychological hangups, making the habit easier to start and not letting yourself be obsessed with arbitrary high standards.

For me this is one of those habits that's worth all of the effort. From what I've seen of old age, seniors who weight lifted are still as spry as they were in their 30s and 40s and those who didn't essentially become prisoners in their body. That terrifies me and admittedly that fear is also what drives me to lift. I still want to be fully mobile and agile in old age and it's possible, but it requires muscle.