So I’ve been behind on submitting this blog post because I’ve been struggling with what to blog about. I was lost.
I like to be motivational, to inspire some positive energy. But i wasn’t feeling positive. Not for any certain reason, but I just could not come up with something clever or inspirational to tell you all.
Then, last week happened. I know I shared a little about mind games and how they can really mess with us during our journey, in my last blog. But then (like good karma) my mind was put to a good test during a particularly tough week of workouts. It started Tuesday, I was already grumpy, had lack of sleep due to a toothache, I had extra children (I’m a foster parent, so I’m constantly dealing with children coming and going) who were acting up, the humidity, and the list goes on and on of things that were grating my last nerve.
Needless to say – when I’m ticked I like to workout, and workout hard. And if there’s one thing you can count on Devin for, its that he always delivers a good tough workout. So while Tuesdays workout was mega tough – i felt accomplished afterwards. I felt I left my all on the asphalt.
Wednesday came, and I was seriously hurting, but that’s okay, I like to hurt – reminds me that I moved and worked hard. But then Thursday came and the workout was brutal. During the 20mins of Hell portion of the workout I found myself needing to keep stopping and catch my breath and regain myself. Which happened more and more. I felt like it happened too much. So every time I had to stop, i would get angry at myself. Things would be going through my head like: You suck Liz, c’mon already. You’re a chump. Wow, you must not be progressing like you think, you can’t even run a short distance without getting winded. You’re not as strong as you think. You’re weak.
WOW – the negative things we can SO quickly start saying about ourselves the minute struggle arises.
The negative talk was even affecting how I performed. It took days to turn that around. I still was mad at myself for how much I needed to stop and take a break. Until finally I had to seriously say to myself “Liz, you are working so hard. You are far from where you were before. You showed up and you worked. Find the wins and stop focusing on the negatives”….I’m always reminding people to not talk negatively about themselves. We so easily believe the negative and deny the positives, or brush off the compliments.
I need to take a dose of my own advice. It WAS a tough frickin workout. But I did it. I didn’t quit at 10 minutes (i wanted to, but I didn’t). I may not have completed as many rounds as Devin (but really who does – he’s a beast), I may have stopped more than I thought was ideal – but I kept going. That’s a WIN!
So I say this to everyone taking the time to read – and I say it to myself (again…and again): Count your wins! Focus on the positives. Talk positively about yourself. Show up and keep pushing forward. Now – I encourage you all to comment and tell me your wins!! Let’s share together. You are worth it. Giving up is not an option.
#ProjectLiz