I Decide

I sat down a half hour ago to write a blog titled, "Summer Slump."  I was going to write about how bad I have done this summer walking, riding my bike, and overall not being as active as I was in the spring.  As I began to compose the first couple of lines I stopped.  I realized that the point of writing this blog, while it is to capture the ups and downs of being more healthy, was to inspire me and catalog my overcoming my unhealthy lifestyle.  I would have nothing intelligent to say other than some lines of woe is me.  And ultimately I realized I really didn't want to write it at all...

In a split second, I got out of my computer chair, started to strip out of my nightgown, and find clothing suitable for taking a walk around the neighborhood.  Too often I make excuses for my poor health choices; I'm tired, I have had a stressful week, it's getting dark and there's no time to drive somewhere...I decided tonight I would have victory over the slump.  A week of regrets over my eating and activity level was not going to defeat me.  We spend too much of our time wallowing in regrets instead of actively seeking a positive future.

This upcoming weekend, I am walking a 5k Color Run race with a friend and her friends.  It will be my first official race I have entered and the fact it is a fun run with no time restrictions and multiple stops with activities is a positive step toward doing better for myself.  Plus, there is race bling at the end.  Who doesn't want race bling?!  I have three medal right now sitting unopened in a drawer waiting for me to earn them.  Sitting at my computer writing about how bad I have done will not bring me closer to achieving any of my goals.  Slumps are important because they give you opportunities to learn about overcoming.  They are excellent lessons.  But slumps should never be the topic of  what should be your inspiration.

This time around, I am approaching being more healthy in a new way.  It's not about changing habits and lifestyles overnight like I tried to do before.  Like all things, it's not possible to change everything that makes me an unhealthy person overnight.  Life doesn't work like that.  It's one goal you work on until you are ready to add another goal to it.  I used to feel like a failure when I didn't work out every day.  If I missed taking one of my medications I would get so mad at myself.  But I missed those things because I was trying to change too many things at once.

I have been listening to a speaker named Simon Sinek recently and his thoughts on leadership are profound.  One thing he mentions is that when you decide to step up and be a leader, you can't change things in that moment just because you decided to be a leader.  They take time and most of the time, you will only grow by picking on thing to focus on.  He also says that being a leader doesn't take vision or excellent people skills.  More than anything, it takes one thing.  Courage.  It's no different for a person like me seeking to change my life.  All I need is the courage to pick one thing to work on.  Soon, if I really work on that one thing, other things will come into play.

When I got up from my chair and put on my shoes, I didn't know how far I would end up walking tonight.  I picked a direction and started.  A loop and a half later, I learned one loop is a half mile almost exactly.  It's a perfect track for days like this when the slumps start to get me down and I need a victory on my tally chart.