Taking care of our health seems like such an easy concept when written on paper. Then life happens. Busy schedules mean quick and typically unhealthy food options, lack of sleep means hitting snooze instead of making it to the gym, long work meetings mean skipping lunch breaks and the instant gratification culture we live in means I need results and I need them now. Excuses become second nature and the feeling of needing to justify each move we make (or didn’t make) turns a normal conversation into a judgment sh!t storm quickly.
Yet every year, we feel the desire to “get back on track”. We feel the need to be a certain pant size, weigh a certain amount or look a specific way (that typically does not even remotely match our body type). I now totally understand the pain of hairstylists when clients come in and want their hair to look like a lady who has 6 times thicker hair then they do. We create the same expectations of our body’s and we hope a “belly blast” workout video will get us there.
Your health is not a number. Your health is not “completed” on a set date. Your health is more than food and your health deserves honesty mixed with a little discipline. If you are deciding that this New Year, you are going to get back on track, first off dude just start. Waiting till January 1 is just a hype up with no bonus points and honestly, it’s my first sign that discipline isn’t in your wheelhouse yet and it probably won’t be on January 1 either. Get honest with yourself and get started. You don’t need the cool shoes, you don’t need the cool workout clothes and you definitely don’t need to “get in shape” before you start. You start now.
WHY do you want to take care of yourself? Pant size is not going to make you healthy, I know a ton of skinny people who are miserable, unhealthy, dissatisfied with life, and probably would be happier if they went up a pant size. So what’s your why? If you’ve ever listened to Coach Cate’s Podcast Peace of Grit, you’ve heard Cate talk about Sticks & Carrots. Our motivators and drivers behind our WHY are so important and the goal is to be driven by carrots instead of sticks. Here’s why; sticks oppose and carrots move towards. It’s not inspiring to run away from something. Just think, every time you talk about wanting to be a smaller pant size, you are basically running away from being “fat” and then subconsciously saying to yourself every time, “I am not good enough”. What if instead, you moved towards a goal like, “I want to wake up every day and take care of my body to FEEL good” Every time you wake up and do that, you are saying to yourself I am capable of good things and there is more for me then the life I am currently living. Like honestly, which one sounds more fun? Which one sounds more satisfying?
Find a carrot. Move towards your goal, stop running away from all the things you fear with no clear direction. You’re basically saying, I have no idea where I’m going, I just don’t want that. And maybe this is the CrossFitter in me, but running is hard and exhausting and we can only run for so long before we quit. And in this case, we quit because we didn’t have a direction (a carrot) so we revert back to what we know and we rekindle our old habits until next year.
Not this year! Listen here friend; you are going to have your best year yet. You are going to reach all your health goals and it doesn’t matter if you work out at home or you pay two gym memberships. It doesn’t matter if your health goal is all about quality sleep and less about kale salads, that’s great! Your health is important and having the tools to execute those goals successfully is SO important. I am cheering you on the whole way and I am so happy to be a resource for you if I can be!
You got this!
Coach Cate
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