You can't eat the elephant all at once, you have to do it one bite at a time. This analogy fit well for me today. Paul and I headed out this morning for a nice long workout at the gym. I tend to overshoot my goals at the gym and then feel very disappointed when I don't live up to those expectations. I know to set smaller goals, but sometimes I just get overly excited and think I can do it all without building up to it.
Today about 1 mile into workout on the treadmill I began to feel tears in my eyes. I hate that stupid treadmill, I hate the feeling of running as my "junk in the trunk" bounces. Honestly most of my frustrations with the treadmill is how all the fat on my body wiggles, it's my butt, my chest, I swear even my arm fat moves when I run. All of my fears come back into my head telling me I can't do it. I felt like a failure and then I thought about what my husband tells me, I define success. Someone else doesn't have to decide what success is for me, I can decide what it is. So I scaled down my goal for the day. I would stay on the treadmill for 30 minutes and push as hard as I could for that 30 minutes. Somehow putting a time limit on it made me more confidence. I think it was because it was a goal I knew I could achieve. After that, I stretched out and made the goal to bike for 6 miles. Again, another achievable goal. So my lesson today for myself, I will eat that darn exercise elephant one bite at a time. I will put one foot in front of the other and continue to move forward and not let the thought of the whole elephant stop me.
I've scheduled out a workout routine for me this week. I knew it was important with starting back with classes. It's been difficult making sure Paul gets his workout time in (he loves P90X), Hannah gets her homework, violin and gymnastics and my working out in. To think of adding school in the mix overwhelms me, but again, a schedule is key to making this successful.
My girlfriend Angela challenged me to a 5K at the end of January. She's said I told her I was unstoppable and I think I better live up to that. I'm nervous as I've never ran outside in the winter and told her I didn't know how much running I could do. She's let me know she was okay with that as she has some limitations with running outside due to asthma. Together we should make a great pair. I enjoy spending time with her although we don't get to spend as much as I would like due to always being so crazy busy. Her and her husband Jason are such great supporters of me being healthy and I'm thankful for having them in my life.
Tomorrow my bite of the exercise elephant will be trying my first run outside. I'm actually a little excited to see what it will be like. It's looking warm enough for jog around the block. Wish me luck!
Unstoppable Elephant Eating Mariah
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