Earlier in the week, I asked you to get uncomfortable. Just for a few moments. Well, actually, I asked you…
Is there an area personally or professionally where you may need a step out of the comfort zone and into the frightening but potentially fulfilling bright lights of discovery?
Were you able to step back and take a closer look at where you may be operating on auto-pilot? Usually we don’t even know it’s happening until some realization – often pointed out by someone else. For example, if someone hasn’t been doing a good job of reminding themselves to stop to take a break to eat, a friend might comment ‘are you losing weight?’ or if a fan of the great outdoors has found themselves increasingly too busy to get out onto the golf course or to the beach, a buddy might sweetly point out – ‘wow, you’re white as a ghost…you need to get out more!’
We can always count on our friends for making us feel good about ourselves, can’t we?
Other times, we might pick up on changes going on if we pay closer attention to our senses. If we’re not exercising like we used to, maybe we feel sluggish or even creaky in our joints. Or we see recent photographs and identify changes in our appearance.
In my case, where I see this happening lately more than usual is with my diet and exercise (or lack of it). I was getting very inspired again in the spring to be more careful watching my portions and the content of what I was putting into my body. I was getting outdoors to walk more regularly, taking in extra exercise whenever I had the opportunity. And then something happened. Well, two things actually and I let them influence the course of my life afterwards. A stressful family health emergency poked its nasty nose into my life and my attention shifted away from me again to other people leaving myself voluntarily abandoning myself once more (and not for the first time). Oh, and then summer came along and took away my light airy mornings and cool breezes, and I never wanted to walk outdoors again for anything but the mail.
Sigh.
And yet this bastard still sits there, laughing at me each time I walk past him in the hallway. I told my husband that I keep the door closed because my little dog recently decided to turn the room’s carpet into a poop graveyard of sorts (which is true), but I think the real reason is that I didn’t want to see this guy anymore.
I know I need to remind myself that something ugly will probably poke its nose again into my business but I can’t stray away from positive habits because of it. I also know that summer’s a pretty long season and there are plenty more days and weeks to come of this suffocating heat. I can’t stay cooped up inside forever. Besides, I do have that lovely room that poses as a fitness room with said Mr. Evil Treadmill, a whole rack of weights and a stationary bike.
I suppose I could use those.
Right now, they work well to prop up extra folding chairs and laundry baskets brimming over with clean towels I have no desire to fold. They’re also quite good at collecting dust.
Anyway, it could be worst: I could be up in Chicago or New York City where folks are experiencing record-high summer temperatures and it’s causing people to go literally crazy in the heat.
So here I sit, stuck in my comfort zone of sorts, operating on automatic, eating whatever without any real care even though I’ve subscribed to Weight Watchers online for a legitimate reason. And yet, on a daily basis, I mindlessly scratch off the daily items on my calendar “AM Walk” and “WW” (for my Weight Watchers online food tracking), thinking nothing of it, like I never really planned to do them in the first place anyway. How sad.
Maybe this week I should surprise myself and actually record my meals again and possibly go outside and take a walk in the neighborhood. Wouldn’t that shock the hell out of me? Better keep that to myself and be surprised.
So where do you need a swift kick in the pants to get motivated and stop settling for the status quo in your life? How can you help yourself this week and pull yourself out of your usual play of events and really spark some different traffic down a particular avenue of your life?
Come on, let’s do it. Together. Let’s get out of this mud we’re clearly entrenched in and do what’s got to be done. I’ll track my foods this week and get my ass out walking again and douse that fitness equipment with my own sweat. What are you going to do to make something new happen?
What fire are you going to light under your fanny this week to join me?
Cheers to finding that daily spark in your life!
Chris
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