Monday, February 6, 2017

The Difference Is In The Doing

This is it. You’ve decided that 2017 is going to be YOUR year. The year that you finally do it, you shed the mental and physical pounds you’ve been carry around for longer than you’d like to admit.

For a brief moment you are fired up! You are unstoppable! You are a fierce force! And then *insert melodramatic music here*…fear.

Yep, I’ve been there. Heck, I’m still there whenever I decide to try something new. I can talk myself out of something quicker than Lady Gaga’s wardrobe changes at the Super Bowl. Because…fear.

Fear of the same. What if you decide to lose the weight and the same sh!t happens again? You go hard for a few days and then…quit. You lose a few pounds and then gain them all back.

Fear of the new, different and unknown. What if you succeed and your life changes? Just the thought of that can be paralyzing. What if you lose friends? What if you start to become a different person and you have no idea how to navigate that reality?

I struggled in this cycle for years. I wanted so badly to make a change but I kept getting in my own way, every single freaking time. 2007- start…stop. 2008- try…fail. 2009- lose…gain. 2010- commit…quit.

It’s always interesting to watch someone on their wellness journey, when they have their a-ha moment, when it finally clicks and change starts to happen. Everyone has a different reason as to why it finally clicked and they were able to reach their goals. Yet there’s one common denominator that they all have that’s as simple as the Nike slogan- © Just Do It.


The difference is in the doing.

Beachbody’s slogan is Decide. Commit. Succeed. Simple right? Maybe not so simple when you’re eyeing up that birthday cake or those nachos or that craft beer. The deciding may seem easy, but it’s not. Because we flounder. One day we’re all in and the next day we don’t even remember making the decision. Because…life.

The magic is in the commitment.

The message that I hear over and over again through Beachbody is that results come from showing up and doing the work, every single day, even on the days when we don’t wanna. Eeeek! This is even harder than making the decision, you mean we actually have to do the work? That’s a bunch of malarkey! We made the choice to change and now we have to do the work to see results? Crazy talk!
OK, I know that we KNOW this. So how do we do this?

- We find a program that works for us, that doesn’t make us feel deprived, that is maintainable for life.

- We tell our family and friends what we’re doing and we rally their support. Note- I know that you don’t want to do this because you’re afraid of failing and you want to do this alone until you start to see success but that is counter-productive. We are better together, we do better together. Ignore the haters, they have their own issues to contend with. Surround yourself with people who want to see you succeed.

- We establish short and long term goals and then we put them out there. We keep those goals in focus and in front of us. We share them with a coach or accountability partner who will help us stick to them.
- We write down our why. This why becomes our anchor when we start to drift. We will drift.

- We tackle only the day ahead of us, otherwise it can be so overwhelming. We commit to making one healthy decision and we build on it. One healthy decision will lead to the next and with that kind of momentum, we are unstoppable.

- We examine our mindset every single day. We begin our day with the intention to be well. We have to get our minds right so our bodies can follow.

- We let go of all or nothing thinking. Ten minutes of exercise is better than none. Some days that’s all the time you’ll have. Set a goal to move a little bit more than you did before.

- We own the space around us. We own our good and bad choices. We own our actions and consequences. And if we don’t like the results we’re seeing, we make a change.

We show up. Every day. We do the work. We sweat. We cry. We get frustrated. We rejoice. We celebrate.

We are consistent. We are persistent and we never give up. 

Commit to the choice. Ask for help. Continue with courage.  
Hugs and friendship,
Tara

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