Before you get annoyed and come back at me with all the reasons you are most certainly NOT doing great, give the idea of ‘doing great’ a few minutes to settle around you.
Think about it like this…
Ok, perhaps you haven’t followed your plan perfectly.
Maybe you haven’t worked as hard as you meant to.
And, you might not be where you hoped to be right now.
But you have been putting in an effort to make the changes you want to make.
It may not be working yet but you are exploring what *could* work. You are figuring out what mental, physical, and environmental conditions you require to add your intended habit.
So, you’re doing great.
I’m not measuring your results here, I am admiring your PROCESS.
Adding new things to a busy life is complicated and it requires a process of trial and error as you figure out what works.
Committing to that process is impressive.
It doesn’t matter that you haven’t figured it all out yet, you are on your way.
So, starting from the idea that you are doing great with your process so far…
What are you going to try next?
Here are your gold stars for your efforts, your exercise, your meditation, your consciously-chosen rest, your commitment to the process of figuring this out.
That’s a gold star for every different kind of effort you have put into your process. Go you! Image Description: A string of gold star-shaped lights extend into the distance. Some stars are in focus and some are not. the background is dark.
Do you have specific exercises, skills, body parts or muscles that you are ‘working on’?
Or have you been giving those things ‘some attention’ instead?
I know I keep bouncing back to the power of our word choices but it has been such a useful tool for me that I hope everyone else can benefit from it, too.
I’ve spent an awful lot of time ‘working on’ things.
Working on my leg strength.
Working on pushups.
Working on my abs.
You know the drill.
(I have also done this in non-fitness parts of my life – working on my schedule, working on organizing the basement and so on.)
Then, a few months ago, I was watching a Yoga with Adriene video and she said something about ‘giving our shoulders some attention.’
When I heard that I actually said ‘Oh!’ aloud.
Giving my body some attention feels way better than working on it.
After all, my body is not a project, it doesn’t need to be worked on.
It does, however, need my attention.
My body thrives when I am responsive to its needs.
Perhaps my body needs some movement, maybe specific movements to strengthen or bring ease to certain areas, and it is time to give some attention to that.
Maybe my body needs rest and I need to give some attention to helping it rest.
Or, I might realize that stress is showing up in my body and it’s time to give some attention to helping it relax.
I realize that this is a small reframing but it could make a huge difference to you (and to your body.)
It could be the thing that helps you do what you need to do to take good care of yourself and to keep building your wellness habits.
I think the change in phrasing will encourage a helpful change in thinking.
After all, would you rather be given some attention or would you rather be worked on?
Whether you are ‘working on’ or ‘giving some attention to’ your body today, here’s a gold star for your efforts.
This gold star is one of 5 that hang on the wall over my kitchen window. Turns out that, even on our small ladder, I am too short to take a directly-in-front photo of it. Image description: a gold star decoration covered in cut-out dots and stars hangs on an orange wall. The photo is taken from slightly underneath the star.
If I fall behind on a program I am doing – exercise or otherwise – I have a bad habit of trying to ‘catch up.’
This either leads to me trying to jam multiple sessions into one day, or to me avoiding the activity entirely because there is too much to do to rejoin the group (even if it is a self-paced program.)
Lately, though, I have realized that I don’t always *have* to catch up and neither do you!
Sure, some graduated programs require us to do every step, but most of the time we can just jump right into the plan for a given day. We might be a little in over our heads for the first bit, but we’ll adjust.
(And, of course, if you feel stressed about jumping in, you can always skim the missing material without doing it all.)
And if we DO need to do every step in order for the program to make sense?
Then we harness our word power again.
If saying that we are trying to catch up gives us that stressed feeling of being ‘behind’ perhaps we can call it restarting or recalibrating.
For me, both of those words have a sense of bringing experience and new information to our plans. That experience/information can help us to proceed in a way that better serves us.
And they let us pick up where we left off without the feeling that we should be at another point in the process.
So, if you haven’t been able to follow the program that you set for yourself, don’t feel that you need to catch up.
Instead, you can choose to jump forward or recalibrate.
The key is that you keep going in a way that feels freeing.
Please don’t let what you haven’t done drag you down and keep you from continuing.
Here’s your gold star for today’s plans for jumping, recalibration or for staying the course.
You can do this!
Yes, I do draw stars all the time. This one is raising two of their little star points to celebrate your efforts. Image description: a hand-drawn gold star with eyes and a smiling mouth stands on a thick black line that has some gold lines overlaid on it. The star’s upper right and left points are slightly raised.
I don’t know about you but I love the hopeful and promising word “yet.”
There is so much possibility packed into that single word. Something hasn’t happened “yet” but with the right tools/skills/information/time frame it could still happen.
Think about the difference between these two statements.
I don’t exercise regularly.
2. I don’t exercise regularly yet.
To me, the first one feels like something being shut down. It’s final and complete.
That second one though? Well, ANYTHING could happen with that one.
The word ‘yet’ is one of my favourite ways to counter discouragement.
It’s not that I am never going to be able to do the thing I am trying to do, I just haven’t found the right method…yet. I can still make changes and adjustments, I can figure out what I need or where to get further support.
Yes, I know this is a very small detail overall but, words have power and we might as well have that power working for us instead of against us. That little word might be the difference between feeling defeated and giving our plans another try.
So, Team, how might you use the word ‘yet’?
How can ‘yet’ keep a door open for you?
Is there something that you haven’t done ‘yet’ that might still be possible with the right support?
Do you have your gold star(s) for today yet?
Here you go!
Part of another drawing of mine. As you can tell, I like drawing stars and not-even-remotely-straight lines. Image description: 8 hand-drawn gold stars of various sizes with a background of black lines drawn on white paper.
We’ve already talked about how important it is to remember what you like about exercising but we haven’t gotten into how motivating it can be to make fun your movement goal for the day.
Not every workout or meditation session is going to be a party, of course. Sometimes we have to do things that don’t thrill us in order to reach the results we are looking for.
However, staying open to introducing fun whenever possible can help you to keep coming back to your workouts – and that’s what we’re aiming for, right?
So, how can you seek some fun movement today?
Maybe you could switch up your workout and do jump rope, hula-hooping, or spend time balancing on the bosu ball…assuming you find those things fun, of course!
If meditation is your goal, perhaps choosing a new space, a fuzzier blanket, or a different guided meditation* might increase the fun factor.
Obviously, the choice is yours and it all depends on what *you* enjoy in a workout. The key here is that by adding your own kind of fun, you will look forward to your workout.
You don’t have to make fun your goal every day (although it’s not a bad idea!) but if you make sure to sprinkle fun into your workouts whenever you need it, it will make it easier to keep exercise in your schedule.
Here are your gold star(s) for your efforts. (I picked a fun drawing of mine to go along with today’s theme. )
Yes, these people are dancing with the stars. Yes, I do think I’m funny…at least to myself. 😉 Image description: An index card drawing of three tiny people holding gold stars almost as large as they are. They are standing on a green field with stereo speakers at either end and there are music notes in the air above them. The index card is resting on a shiny gold surface.
* If you really want to mix things up, go to YouTube and search ‘cursing meditation.’ Those meditations aren’t for those who object to strong language but if you are ok with it, you’ll probably enjoy the (surprisingly useful) irreverence.
How do you respond when your brain resists the idea of moving or meditating or doing any of the other things that are challenging in the short term but beneficial in the long term?
Do you try to stubborn your way through the resistance?
(I have had moderate success with this some of the time.)
Do you give into the resistance and just avoid your wellness plans?
(I’ve done this regularly in the past. It did not make me feel any better and I did not become any fitter nor did it lower my stress levels.)
Or, do you respect your resistance and try to figure out why it is coming up right now?
(This has been my most useful approach for dealing with resistance.)
Once you get curious about the nature of your resistance, you can often address some of the challenges that tend to bring it to the forefront.
Sure, sometimes resistance is just inertia – a kind of energy-based reluctance to change from your current state to new one and that’s when stubbornly pushing ahead will probably help.
Otherwise, though, resistance could have useful information for you.
Asking yourself questions about the specific nature of your resistance will bring any frustrations about your wellness plans to your conscious mind. Once you are consciously aware of the issues, you can decide how to address them.
(Even though we are trying to find out the ‘why’ of our resistance, I haven’t actually found it all that useful to ask myself why I am resisting my own plan.
Instead, I ask myself ‘What would I need to get started?’
Either question works, of course, and so would many others. Choose one that suits *you* best.)
Perhaps you are resisting your exercise session because you find it too cold when you are getting started.
Maybe you don’t want to exercise because you hate the music in the video you follow.
Your program might be too challenging for you right now, or you may find it lonely to exercise alone, you may be trying to exercise or meditate at the ‘wrong’ time of day, or doing certain exercises may stir up a bad feeling for you.
Perhaps you’ll realize that the goal you initially set isn’t actually all that important to you. Or maybe you’ll discover that you have accidentally been following a program someone else said that you ‘should’ do.
(Personally, I always resist a should but I don’t always realize that I’m doing it until I get curious about my resistance.)
No matter what comes up for you during this process, you will probably have the information you need to go into problem-solving mode.
Once you are in problem-solving mode, you can give yourself and your resistance the respect you both deserve and find ways to make it easier to get moving.
Here’s a picture of my left hand with a gold star sticker on the back of my middle finger. Here’s the story that goes with it: I was looking around the main floor of my house to determine which gold star to photograph today when my dog interrupted me to ask for a treat. I reached into the cupboard to get her one and when I withdrew my hand, I noticed this sticker. I have no idea where it came from but obviously I had to include it in this post!
PS: If you’d like some help brainstorming any obstacles you uncover in this process, let me know in the comments and I’ll put my brain in your storm for a while.
“January 17 or Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day is popularly thought to be the day when a large number of people abandon their New Year’s resolutions. Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day gives you an excuse to forget your New Year’s resolutions.”
But you don’t have to quit. It’s not mandatory.
You have choices.
You can scale back and start smaller. That’s Tracy’s advice.
I paused my workout plan for a few days this week.
I was sick on Monday and Tuesday so I couldn’t do my HIIT program or my yoga. I could manage to take the dog for very short walks and do a few neck stretches but that was it.
On Wednesday, I kept my cardio on pause but I could do some yoga.
On Thursday, I had lots of cardio at TKD and did yoga when I came home.
On Friday, I pressed ‘play’ went back to my regular routine.
As a storyteller, a writer, and a coach, I am all about the power of words.
That’s why I chose to say that I ‘paused’ my workout plan instead of saying that I ‘stopped’ it.
Stopping has a finality to it. You might start again or you might not.
Pausing feels like it includes an intention to start again.
When I’m coaching people and they choose to pause something they want to eventually continue doing, I ask them about their conditions for returning.
Will they start again after a specific time frame?
Does their return depending on finishing something else? (Another project, or letting an injury heal.)
If they aren’t sure about their conditions for returning, I ask them to pick a date or time when they will revisit their decision to pause. That frees them up from annoying themselves every day with ‘How about today? No?’ and it also helps them stay conscious of their plan to return.
If you have hit a snag in your workout plans, perhaps, instead of coming to a stop, you can make use of the power of a pause.
Obviously, if you can reshape your plans, that’s great. And it’s always a good idea to keep up the things that you *can* do, but go ahead and pause the plans that you can’t follow in the moment.
You don’t need to feel guilty about it. You haven’t failed, you haven’t messed up, and you aren’t quitting. You are being responsive to the reality of your life in this moment.
But by calling it a pause instead of a stop you are keeping the metaphorical door open for your return. You are making a conscious decision to temporarily alter your plans.
Fitness isn’t an all or nothing one-time project, it’s an ongoing, responsive plan.
And it is perfectly ok if some parts of that plan have to be paused from time to time.
(It’s also ok to stop your plan entirely if you find something that serves you better, but this post is about when you WANT to continue but you just can’t do it right now.)
Here’s your gold star for your efforts to increase your fitness by doing what you can and by responding to the reality of your life right now.
This is a stock photo so this gold star wasn’t hanging on *my* tree, but I still wholeheartedly approve of its gold starry-ness.
We didn’t all blog about it but most of the bloggers at Fit is a Feminist Issue have chosen a word of the year.
Why do it? Sometimes people choose a word of the year to guide them instead of a new year’s resolution, and for others it’s part of the resolution. It can mean different things to different people but the basic idea is to name an area for concentration, focus, or exploration. Sometimes it’s what you want more of in your life and sometimes it’s more general, to give a flavour to the conversations you’re having about your prupose, direction, and plans.
But with no further ado, here are our words for 2021:
If you are having trouble getting in the exercise frame of mind, creating an external cue might help.
Let me give you an example:
Last Sunday morning, I participated in an international online superclass for Taekwondo .
When I registered for the class back in December, I hadn’t noticed that it started at 7:30am Newfoundland Time.
I was excited to take the class but 7:30am on a Sunday seemed really hard. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get into the Taekwondo ’zone’ and that I wouldn’t get as much out of the class because I would be sleepy and uncoordinated.
Luckily, I was wrong.
Even though it was early, even though it was a Sunday morning, even though I was online instead of in a class, once I put my dobok (my TKD uniform) on I was in taekwondo mode.
It was a kind of magic. One minute I was sleepy, grumpy, and vaguely regretful about committing to this. The next, I was awake, interested, and ready to get moving.
My dobok gave me an exercise context, it was an external cue.
After all, I only put my dobok on for Taekwondo. I don’t put it on to lounge around the house or to run errands, I put it on because it is time to go to class.
And, it turns out that any time can feel like class time…if I put my dobok on.
Obviously, most people won’t have a dobok but you probably have a piece of clothing or gear that symbolizes exercise for you, an external cue that will put you in a movement frame of mind.
If you don’t have one yet, it might be a good time to start developing one. Find something you can use or wear every time you exercise so, eventually, that item will tell your brain that it is time to get moving.
(A category of item can work just as well as an individual one, i.e. wearing any bandana around your neck could be an exercise cue, it doesn’t have to be that specific red one.)
Do you have a piece of clothing that puts you into exercise mode?
If so, what is it?
If not, what *could* you use to help you slip into that zone?
Keep up the good work, Team, building habits takes conscious effort and, like I said the other day, it’s okay to give yourself what you need to support those efforts.
Here’s your gold star for today!
Another day, another gold star. Keep up the good work!
