Have I failed or not at a goal I set a year ago? I was not able to complete what I set out to do in a year. So yes I did, and I am working at owning it. I think that has been what has been bothering me lately is coming to terms with that. I didn’t think it would bother me as much as it did but surprised it did. Yet I have also come to realize how big of a goal it really was. Scrolling through reels on Instagram
After a year of working toward this goal, I have been doing a bit of thinking. I have decided that while I am making progress, I want to try doing a bit more of a breakdown on forming a fitness habit in general. I have had the most luck on getting runs in on the weekend but that still leaves all that time during the week I am not doing fitness outside of my work. Since switching to the day shift it has been a struggle. If I am being completely honest it was a struggle before I switched as well. Now I have thought about getting up earlier to try but right now that feels like I am going to be setting myself up for failure as that would mean an early wake-up time and there are so many factors as to why that won’t work. Then scrolling through Instagram, I came across an idea that I think might work. The person had basically made it a goal to do something every day till his birthday which was running. I want to take the idea but for the work week make it a small step of doing some form of fitness for a small amount of time to prove to myself at first that I have the time and then go from there.
For 7 days straight I want to do something fitness related, and it also includes going for runs. I think it is doable, but I will have to get through all my reasons or rather excuses that I don’t. Now I can’t just count walking as I do that at work a lot and am trying to do something different. I am guessing at first, I will probably turn to YouTube. With that in mind I am also not discounting Yoga as the process will be good and holding the process can help core strength and such. If this turns out to be successful, I am also not discounting going further or for longer periods of time. But to start I am once again having to prove to myself that I have the time to do it and still get everything else done without upsetting everything or having to rebalance everything. The idea is that this small goal can grow and add up into a bigger goal that will help me more with running.
I am not giving up on my goal, in fact, this year I am hoping to get in on some of the actual races not just the ones on the Conqueror Challenge. But starting small and then proving to myself I have time and then going to the next step of maybe the gym after work will not only help my health but also help my overall goal of running a 5k without walking. I do not know how this will go but I will have to keep the goal on the front burner and fight to keep it important to me. Not sure how that is going to go as life can through curve balls at me often. Let’s be real I was just getting something going when I moved shifts and then got a puppy. But this should help and to be honest, the puppy helped too. Though it has been rough trying to develop these habits I am making small steps forward. To help with this I am wanting to try this to see if it gives larger strides to the development of this habit.
I hope that with all of this, I will have an easier time running that 5k. It feels that it is taking so long, so I was looking to push to feel like I am making more progress. I know other people out there have goals, and even putting the time in, it just takes forever to get to the goal. I am not sure how this will end up, but it should give me the extra encouragement as well as just some simple get up and go to keep pushing toward the main goal of running a 5k without stopping. Along the way, I may think of other things aside from becoming more aware of the things I am eating. I guess I have a hope that all these small things will add up to achieving not only the main goal but also other positive things. I have to admit that I have struggled to find encouragement to continue with this goal for a while, but this did give me some to keep going. So I am willing to take that and run with it to see if it leads not only to some more encouragement or maybe even the end goal.
Part of the idea is that I will just keep going when I make the 7 days in a row goal. Then it will be another 7 days. Then getting more specific, 7 days in a row of getting a run-in and then seeing where it goes from there. I may have to do a few attempts to get 7 days in a row straight and then throughout this, I am sure I will have to start over as I have said before life happens, but like I have also said I need something to keep this on the front burner and help stop the excuses that I keep coming up with to put it off or that I am too tired or busy. They are not true, but I know I am not the only one who comes up with these excuses. If people who are far more active than I am can find the time, then if this is as important as it feels to me, I can find the time as well. I have a feeling it is going to take a few attempts to make it 7 days in a row but my threshold for what I am considering working out during the week right now is insanely low.
I have made no secret of the fact that I struggle with keeping a workout regimen. I have had luck in the past, but it has always been a struggle for me. Even workout classes or having a person with me is a struggle. For more reasons than just the fact I am massively out of shape, I also for some reason when I am working out with someone get self-conscious. When I would do laps with an old co-worker of mine at a pool, I was self-conscious of how much I struggled and how much she didn’t. This is a rather new realization for me as I haven’t put a lot of thought process into comparing myself to others before. Mostly because I thought they were better than me. I also am aware that it is okay to struggle and while these things may be my struggle as well as other people there are also other people who I compare myself to that struggle as well. Struggles happen and one thing I have learned is that they are different and look different for everyone. Some of us struggle with the same thing yet we do not all have the same struggles.
This is going to take a few tries to get right. That fact, I have no doubt that I will be successful in the long run. At the same time, it will be a good challenge to get me on the right track as it is not going to be an easy thing to accomplish. I struggle with the fact I have made so little process in a year, but I am proud of myself for the progress that I have made. A win that I was not expecting has been being more conscious about not just my fitness but my overall health. And having the courage to act on that knowledge and just the courage to act on things that I might have just brushed aside before. I am not perfect, and this should be interesting to see if this even has the impact that I hope it does. Even if that fails miserably there will be an outcome and I am excited to see what that will be. How different it might be from what I am originally hoping it will be. You never know and along the way, I hope there are some other success stories that come from these struggles.
Lemons or Lemonade 