HI FRIENDS!
Oh man I’ve missed you. I hope your 2020 is off to a good start!
I never intended for my newsletter hiatus to be as long as it was, but it’s so easy to let these things snowball, ya know? And that’s exactly what I want to talk about this week…
Now that I’m all settled in to my new neighborhood, there are a few things I always told myself I would do once the move was complete. For example, I’m much closer to a gym I teach at, and wanted to start taking advantage of that proximity (and the free membership that comes with being on-staff) and actually get my butt on the elliptical 1-2 times a week. I’ve found a million reasons not to, usually I tell myself there’s not really enough time to make it worthwhile.
When I plan to go, I dilly-dally at home until my 40-min workout window gets cut to 30 min… 20 min… 15 min? Super easy at that point to just say f*ck it. But I decided that it’s not really about how long I go or any immediate results at all, instead it’s about BUILDING THE HABIT.
For now, I’m making it feel more normal to be in the gym. Getting used to the walk there, getting comfortable with the locker room and the machines. It’s doing ten minutes on the elliptical when I can, knowing that will eventually grow to 20, 30, 40… maybe even venturing out to use some of the other equipment some day!
I had a similar feeling with returning to our weekly emails – the longer it went, the more I felt like I had to have a full plan in place for what I was going to share moving forward. And while I have some ideas, I decided it doesn’t really matter – it’s better to just start, to get back in the habit of writing every week, taking that time to reflect, to share something.
It’s just about making that first effort: whether it’s reaching out to a friend you lost touch with, even though you don’t really know what you’re gonna say; scheduling the workout class, even though you feel completely intimidated about actually going; doing just a tiny bit of the thing you want to do, because it’s better to start than avoid it for fear of it not being perfect your first time out.
It’s about building the muscle memory.
What is something you’ve been avoiding because it feels a little too “big,” and how can you break it down and just build the habit instead of focusing on the actual results?
See you next week!
xoxo,
m.
