Embrace the Journey
Embrace the Journey While You’re on the Journey
Giving up is easy. But living with the decision to take the easy way out isn’t.
When we think about our goals and our visions, we tend to overlook the hurdles sitting between where we are right now and the place way out on the horizon where we want to be.
Think about one of your current goals. Maybe it’s the weight you want to lose. Maybe it’s a race you want to win. Or maybe it’s the sugar you want to cut from your diet. Now, capture a picture in your mind of what that goal looks like once you’ve hit it. Stay with that image.
Willing versus unwilling mindset.
You are living the life you are willing to put up with. Wait? What? You are on a journey of settling. If you hate the way you feel in your clothes, change. If you hate eating diet foods, don’t! (I’ll spare you my tangent here on how I feel about diets.)
It’s comfortable to talk about things in a future sense. Thinking about goals and what we hope to accomplish after we do other things first is easy. But to move from the point of just talking about something and actually acting on it is the part where most people stop because it’s tough and uncomfortable.
It boils down to mindset. Do you have a willing or an unwilling mindset? How have you been approaching your health and body goals?
Are you willing to do what it takes to shed the pounds? Are you willing to get yourself out of bed when your alarm goes off – even when it’s getting colder out, and all you want to do is snuggle back under the covers?
Are you willing to sacrifice that Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte on your way out of Target because you know it’s jam-packed with sugar? Even though you always stop on your way out of the store. Are you willing to break a habit that you love because it’s counterproductive to your bigger goals?
Are you willing to pass up that second helping of onion rings when you’re out with friends? Everyone else is indulging – it only feels right that you should, too. Even though you know you’ll be pissed at yourself tomorrow.
Being unwilling to sacrifice a few moments of bliss is what keeps us stagnant, never achieving what we want.
The destination is a myth. The journey is real.
My spin on the famous Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote, “…it’s a journey, not a destination,” might sound confusing, I realize.
But your goals, whatever they might be, are not destinations. Because once you achieve that weight goal, you’re not done. Once you successfully cut sugar for a month, you’re not done.
Results aren’t immediate. You don’t complete one workout and have your body transform into an Olympic Athlete. Those workouts that challenged and pushed you don’t mean that what you are doing is wrong. Rather, it shows you your progress journey.
As you meet goals, you continue on. You make new ones. That’s how we continue growing and becoming the people we want to be as we change.
My goals from 10 years ago are not the goals that make me happy now. I met (most of) those goals long ago, yet they didn’t solve all my problems and make my life perfect and happier. I ran my first 10k, and I realized there was no “final” destination because I wanted to keep going and my friend talked me into signing up to run a half marathon.
Once you embrace life as a full-on journey, your mindset shifts. You bust through the limits you set for yourself. You can feel yourself cross to that other side of life – the side where you can feel the energy you create by continuing with your momentum.
Have a happy now mindset.
Like I started this post, thinking about things in a future sense is easy. Happiness is the same. We can look into our imaginary crystal ball and envision ourselves when we’re happy, but we’re forgetting to be happy now, in the present.
When you have a “life is good now” mindset, you become happier. Now. Not in 2 years when you finish grad school. Not when you lose 15 pounds. Not when your pants fit better. NOW. It’s crucial to live life understanding that how we spend our days is ultimately how we spend our lives.
You might be rolling your eyes at this, saying, “how can I be happy when I hate working out?” And I hear you. Working out to hit the weight and fitness goals you aspire for isn’t always fun. But when you choose to be happy while you work toward a dream, it makes putting forth the effort a tad easier.
Trick yourself into being happy if you need to. This can be something as simple as telling yourself that you hate the workout, but you’re grateful you have a body that can power through it. Or just go into the workout by telling yourself, “this will be fun” or “I’m strong enough to do this.” Repeating little mantras really can shift our mindset.
The moral of the story…Stop living in the future. Or in the past. Live in the here and now. And choose to be happy right now. Once you get to the end, there isn’t a guarantee it will bring you everlasting bliss.
Stop stressing over unrealistic expectations.
When I talk to my coaching clients about goals and obstacles, there’s always one common theme. Women have a way of setting unrealistic expectations for themselves. Unsurprisingly, when we set unrealistic expectations for ourselves, we set ourselves up for failure before we even begin.
That’s when we say screw it, and eat a second (or third) helping of onion rings, or take out a pint of ice cream in one sitting. And we do it again the next day, and the one after that, until we’ve slipped completely and are possibly worse off than when we started.
for example:
I like to relate the unrealistic expectations we make for ourselves to that of an overtired child. Who can think of a time that they took a child to a store or to an event over naptime? They’ll be fine, we tell ourselves. They’ll be having so much fun, they’ll forget they’re tired. Except no, their bodies don’t forget. And the result is BRUTAL. Our expectations of them acting like little angels in public goes right out the window. Our beautiful child is replaced by a tired demon, and you stand there waiting for their head to spin around.
If we never work together in a coaching aspect, here’s my one tip for you. Set expectations for yourself that give you the freedom to mess up, rest, and take care of yourself. Because beating yourself up along the way will make achieving your goal less satisfactory. What does a beat-up, damaged car do when it sputters over the finish line? It often breaks down. Machines need maintenance on their journey – so don’t forget to pull over to refuel.
Also, give your child a nap if they need it.
If you want to ignite a real health change in your life, you have to start the journey now. You know you want to enjoy life now, while you’re reaching for your goals! But you have to reset your mindset about health. I can help you reframe your health goals and kick the food guilt. Click here to get on the waiting list for my 4 week Body Declutter course. Start your journey off on the right foot and knowing the right fuel for your body to help you crush your goals.
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