You’re Never Starting Over
When we hit a set-back, it can feel like we have failed and have to go back to the drawing board. While it feels like you are going all the way back to the beginning, you are really never starting over. Even if you feel like a bigger plan has failed or you have to try a new approach, that doesn’t mean you are back at square one.
The best part about progress is that, even if results come and go in different increments, our skills, knowledge and experience are cumulative. Even if I’m only down a few pounds and feeling like I’m stuck today, I have been working on this plan or plans like it for my entire adult life.
As I talked this week with a client running into a major roadblock, I remind them: It pays to remember that you have been here before. Not only have you run into days as difficult as this, but you have also overcome them. You already have the experience of this frustration. You already have the tools to advance through this.
This is an important message for me to remember as I have battled injuries, sickness, busy schedules and any other setback that we all have to deal with. It is important to remember that by itself: We all have to deal with these things. This is life.
What we DO NOT have to deal with is: Negative self-talk or beating ourselves up for not being perfect. No one is perfect. No one has the perfect schedule, the perfect routine or the perfect mindset all day every day. We have ups, downs and everything in between. Welcome to real life.
This reminds me of the “begin again” concept: even if we are starting today as a new day, we are giving our selves a fresh start. Beginning again, is very different from starting over. Beginning again is more about forgetting the down day we had yesterday than it is about starting new. It is more about not letting yesterday ruin today, or tomorrow, than it is about bouncing back. This may sound like semantics, but it makes a difference.
It also reminds me of the importance of support. When you are beating yourself up, you need someone to come to your defense. You need someone to help you see the situation differently. Maybe that’s providing supportive words. Maybe it’s just being there for accountability. Or, maybe it’s being there to ask different questions.
The more support you have, the easier it is to look at today as a new day. Again, it’s not about starting over. You are not starting over. You are simply doing today, what you have been working toward on many other days. You are already off and running. Just take the next step today. You will thank yourself tomorrow.