Good morning! :D
As you may know, this is the last week of the SGBC.
The theme of this week is: ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’.
To be honest with you, I wasn’t sure that I could write on this topic this week. As I mentioned in last night’s post, I have been really lacking in the motivation department with exercise. I have skipped some SGBC exercises and I just have felt like I have let myself down at certain points.
And then I started to think about it some more.
Let myself down? What?
Sometimes I have to stop and challenge the negative thoughts that creep into my mind because they often are unsupported. One of the most difficult things I still struggle with is the tendency to experience negative thoughts, whether it is about my progress, body, accomplishments, or a negative comment that someone said about me. I have always struggled with this during my life.
Sometimes I am really hard on myself…and pardon my French…but for no goddamn reason!
So what if I skipped a couple workouts or I sat on the couch instead of hitting the treadmill? Is that really bad? Does that make me a bad person?
Of course not.
One of the most important life lessons I am learning is that I can’t always plan my life. Life happens. It is impossible for any of us to foresee a ‘blah’ week, an injury, a family issue, etc. Life just happens and I think the more flexible I am with myself, the happier I will be.
Try to take a moment to sit down and recap some of the changes you have made so far in the SGBC. Maybe you have started to smile at your reflection in the mirror more, written yourself love notes, embraced your skin sans make-up, crank out 10 push-ups at a time, rocked some summer clothes that you were previously afraid to wear, or written down some long term health goals.
Whatever it was that made an impact on your life. Write it down.
Two of the biggest changes I have noticed in myself this month:
1) I have set fun fitness goals that I was always terrified to do (Yes, I used to be too scared to sign up for a race in the past…completely chicken- not sure why but I was.)
2) I have started to appreciate myself sans make-up as well as my muscles and curves. There was a point in my life when I hated curves and just wanted to be a stick, but I am starting to like them more.
Once you do a quick recap, give yourself a pat on the back and just revel in your accomplishments.
I know for myself, I don’t do this enough. Here I was feeling bad for having a ‘blah’ exercise week when I just ran a 10 mile race. I mean, come on. Life is way too short to feel badly over exercise.
Goals can be a great thing, but they can also prevent us from appreciating the present. Sometimes I am so busy planning what I want to do next, I forget to really appreciate what I have done.
Don’t think about next month, next year, or some other big date in your future.
Think about now. Rest and quiet your mind. And just sit.
Reflect on all of the amazing things you do for yourself every single day.
And most importantly, make sure that you allow yourself to feel good about it!
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Did you ever do something you didn’t think you could do but proved yourself wrong? What was it?
I consider one of my biggest accomplishments to be beating disordered eating that consumed my life for 10+ years. No matter what I was doing in my life, as long as that held me back, I could never fully appreciate the life I am lucky to have.
You are so inspiring! And what you say is so true. I love how you promote loving yourself, it’s so lacking in our society!
Yes! I make my own bread and raw almond milk. I use to be so scared of the kitchen. Now it is my happy place.
What an inspiring post! No one’s perfect, and I think you’re right about taking a moment to reflect on past accomplishments.
I never ever thought I’d be able to run. I’m up to 6 miles, and a couple years ago, my thoughts on running were: it’s hard and unnecessary. Now, it’s a passion, and running is my main source of cardio!
Great post! I never thought I would love to exercise! I used to hate any sort of exercise.. and now I’ve found a love for many different kinds!
I didn’t think I’d be able to start and keep my own blog, but I did and I love blogging!
Ange, that was a beautiful post. I also wanted to say that what draws me back to your blog day after day is NOT because of your workouts. I don’t read your blog because I want motivation to workout myself. Yes, motivation is great, but MOST importantly, I read your blog because I think you are REAL. It’s normal to feel a slump in exercise every now and then, and when you are honest about it, it makes me feel human too. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about why I read blogs lately, and you know what? I’ve realized that some blogs are like reading trashy magazines about women who have lives I’ll never be able to have, nor would I necessarily want to have. I’ll never be that put together or always work out every day or always eat perfectly clean and healthiy. Because this would drive me mentally insane. I am also extremely hard on myself at times, and I need to move beyond that. It’s so refreshing to read your entries because you are so honest and real. I have to agree that the one thing I accomplished that I never thought I would was to get over my disordered eating. I’ll admit that sometimes negative thoughts still creep back, but I know I have come a LONG way. Way farther than I ever anticipated. But anyhow- you are an amazing woman, and know that younger girls reading this blog are looking up to you! Don’t ever feel bad about missing a workout or not eating a perfectly polished diet one day.. we still love you, especially because you are human! :)
AMEN, girl! Seriously, we. are. enough. Period. Things like this are what bring me back to your blog every day. Your blog could not be any more real or refreshing.
Thank you SO much for this post. I have gotten to the point where I feel guilt (some days a lot, some just a litte) if I have a rest day. This definitely stems from my disordered eating and the feeling that I can always be doing MORE. Well, sometimes I just want to rest!! And I should be fine with that.
I am still working on overcoming disordered eating, and in the past year I have run a few races … which I am really proud of because they have made me feel STRONG. Now I am dealing with a stress fracture in my foot, and just learning to take care of myself!!
Thanks for always covering the topics that I need to read!!
lovely post. Your words are so inspiring to read!
Wow I can completely relate. I am notorious for having a somewhat negative outlook on everything. It trickles into my self image, my guilt over workouts, my opportunoty to succeed in the workplace. It’s so poisonous!!! It is something I work on everyday.
I am so fortunate for the things I have in my life. I have a loving and supportive husband, a home I own (at 23!), a family who is healthy and lives close by, and much, much more. Sometimes I need to realize that life is too short to endlessly beat myself over a slice of pizza or whatever. I am not this shallow!
Great post, Angela! I love the way you always ‘keep it real.’ You are such an inspiration ;)
Thanks Angela! I battle with the negative thought a lot too. Your not alone :).
A great post! The beating myself up thing is something that seems to be growing as I get older. I’ve exercised since I was 13, worked in gyms for years, but now at 30 my preferences are changing. I’m not as motivated to lift weights like I used to or workout in the AM anymore. I’ve decided this is something I need to accept and evolve my exercise patters instead of beating myself up because I don’t truly enjoy these activities anymore. For example, I’m trying to embrace yoga more now and running, two activities I used to dislike.
Although not at the clinical level, I struggled with binge eating disorder for a long time. I feel that I’ve successfully overcome that at this point in my life and am glad I have a different view of and relationship with healthy food.
Thank you so much for this post, Angela. I can not express to how much this post speaks to me and what I am going through right now. Exercise played a huge role in my life before I recognized and got help for my eating disorder last November. In April I stopped going to the gym completely because my working out was still obsessive even during my recovery. I started going back to the gym in mid-June simply to walk on the treadmill and I often begin to beat myself up over my “low intensity” work out.But this post has helped me to see in so many ways that it is not low intensity workout…it is JUST what I need. So, thank you.
I often do not sit and enjoy the “present” but am always thinking of what I need to do next or what I should be doing in the present…instead of just enjoying the gift that our present time is.
Like I mentioned I battled an eating disorder for 7 years of my life. I never thought I would be able to overcome it, but through my strong faith, wonderful support, and determination I am never looking back to my old way of life!
Thanks again for this post :) Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday, love.
you’re totally right! we should appreciate what we’ve accomplished rather than feeling sorry for ourselves when we’re not checking things off the “to-do list.” and if our body tells us to rest, that it needs a “blah week,” so be it. i have weeks where i feel very comfortable with this and then there are times where i am beating myself up also. i think that if we continue to tell ourselves it’s okay to not always be on top of things, we will eventually believe it.
*hugs* I seriously don’t know how you work so hard (doing physical work at that) and STILL workout so often!!! You get up early (really early) and work until late and don’t get as much sleep as you *should* and still do an amazing job and have a totally positive attitude! I think you’re a thousand times more motivated than most people, so even if you’re not feeling 100% you’re still way up there :-) You need to wear your medal everyday maybe! Maybe you should schedule in a sleep recovery week where you catch more Zzzzzzzzzzs. That would be a fun challenge!! Have a wonderful day lovely lady!!
Great post! It is so true. It isn’t worth it to beat yourself up over taking a couple days, weeks, or months off from exercise! Sometimes our bodies need rest and we need to listen or we will tear ourselves down! Honestly, we are young, and I want to be a healthy elderly some day! I worry sometimes that my knees will give out some day because of all the running I do in young adulthood. Maybe that would be a great topic to post about. :)
I really do need to learn to not beat myself up over missing a couple days of exercise! One thing I tell myself is that even after a couple days of missed exercise, when I eventually do work out again, I will feel EVEN BETTER and will forget all the negative feelings I once had when I wasn’t working out.
I definitely think it’s ok to skip workouts sometimes and just relax!! This is such a great post!!
what a great post! I am a very planning oriented person, and I get all frazzled if things don’t go as I had envisioned. I get so caught up in the race that I don’t realize the good things sometimes. I’m learning to just sit, relax and not think so much! So true :)
-kristen
I never thought I would be happy in a bikini, especially not with 5 inch heels on in front of a crowd! :o