The other day I went to the gym. After a month long hiatus.
Now you probably know it’s hard enough getting INTO a new routine, without dropping in and out of it.
Well, let this be official: it’s even harder if you secretly hate part of your routine.
Oh say, like the squats. (SQUATS! What kind of a funny name is that anyway? Huh!)
Skawts. For some reason, they are exceptionally hard for me to do, yet I kept doing them. I “had” to cos they were a part of the training schedule that had been developed by the trainer & me. Week after week, dreading and still doing them.
Did it even occur to me that I could have just scrapped that part of my routine?
Er.. I’m almost red-faced to say NO.
I wished I could, but I’d convinced myself I wouldn’t reach my desired goals.
Mistake # 1! Assuming that once a “seemingly good” decision has been made, it’s always going to be good.
I laboured with the sets and # of reps. Got so sore I could barely walk without wincing for 3 days. I still went back and pushed myself again, repeating this series of events for a month. I was gonna conquer those SKAWTS!
Mistake # 2! Ignoring the messages being sent by my body and relating to the “no pain no gain” theory.
Then I reduced the reps. Which led to guilt for not doing it properly and losing motivation. Which saw me not going for a month, until this “other day” I’m talking about.
Mistake # 3: Giving up without looking into what was happening or finding a way to get creative about my routine.
This time around, as I started doing those darn squats again, a flicker of an idea whispered “gee, you could just skip this part, y’know”. It was like the wool had been lifted off my eyes.
The “truth” that I believed – that leaving this bit out was going to ruin the results – wasn’t so true anymore.
What happened next? I got up and moved on to the next exercise with a big smile on my face. HAH!
Who’s to say I can’t look (and feel) the way I want by doing exactly what I want? In this case not only did I ignore my feelings, but I also clean forgot about exercising my MOST important muscle – the Power of Choice!!
It got me thinking.
Where else in my life do I give this power away? Where do YOU?
Like me, you exercise choice every day. You’re smart enough to know YOU choose everything – from your feelings to your reactions to your experiences to the clothes you buy and breakfast you eat.
And yet, like me, sometimes you too forget that you have that power at all!
- It happens when you let your lack of knowledge or expertise stop you from taking action
- When you try to live your life by other people’s standards
- When you let someone treat you badly cos you can’t change them
- When you let fear make your decisions for you
- You lose your power when you let life happen to you rather than making life happen
Think about it for a moment. Is there a part of your life that “makes” you feel powerless? Have you been through something so bad that you can’t imagine it ever being right again? Are you bogged down by all the things you want to do and conflicted between them and the ones you “need” to do?
Whatever your situation or particular challenge, I invite you to have another look. If you’ve been choosing what’s happening without consciously knowing it, it’s time to choose differently.
When you remember you have a choice in every single moment, a choice to think and act in a way that supports you, opportunities, events and ideas unfold that weren’t obvious to you earlier.
You’ve been given a gift, the gift of choice. How are you using it?
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I’d love to hear about the choices you’ve been making, conscious or subconscious, where you’re giving your power up. What are you choosing and what would you rather? Thanks for sharing!
Great post – it’s amazing how we keep on refining our understandings about our capacity for choice! And fabulous to be reminded of it, too 😉
Never fails to surprise me that sometimes, I’m not really making a choice when I think I am! Not making a choice is a choice too as long as one’s doing it consciously..
How funny is that?! Squats are one of the few exercises I consistently enjoy. lol But NOT at the gym. I exercise my power of choice to get workouts in the privacy and comfort of home.
Nice reminder, Tia!
One man’s poison…. LOL Jeannette! Skawts are so not hawt for me.
I’ve been very aware of some things I was leaving up to other people to do and feeling stuck as I waited on them to do “their part” so I could do mine.
Until I asked myself if i was choosing to feel stuck! Wow, eye opening. Ended up doing that thing myself within 15 minutes instead of waiting for 3 hours twiddling my thumbs and getting more and more frustrated by the minute.
My new favourite words to ask “Am I choosing this”? Thanks for dropping by J!
Your post made me laugh and remember how much I hated going to the gym (the lunges were the straw that broke the camel’s back for me). Every time I went, I thought to myself that I’d rather be outside going for a walk and enjoying nature, but kept going to the gym until my membership expired (I paid for it, gosh darn it, so I’m gonna get my money’s worth. No wonder they make you pay for six months at a time! LOL). That was pre-LOA consciousness. Lesson learned . . . 🙂
Your Mistake #1 observation is profound . . . Assuming that once a “seemingly good” decision has been made, it’s always going to be good. I think we all get caught in that one once in a while. And look at all of the people in jobs they don’t like or in relationships they aren’t happy in . . . they all sounded like good ideas once upon a time. I’d say there is an epidemic of Mistake #1! I love the saying, “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall never be bent out of shape!” If something isn’t working, it’s time to make another choice.
Abraham’s downstream has been my choice lately. A calm, peaceful life. Waking up in the morning and deciding then what I am going to do for the day. Lots of people would be bored silly . . . but I think that getting rid of the drama has really helped me get centered again . . . and has helped me to make better choices now that I don’t have my attention being pulled in so many different directions.
“Am I choosing this?” I’m adopting your new favorite words, Tia! What a powerful question to ask every day . . .
Ooooooo Carol! Reminds me of the time I went to this nice restaurant and ordered some food which I didn’t like at all but I made myself eat it cos I was paying for it. Way to go exercising choice there 😉
As for gyms I pay a monthly membership – don’t like committing to anything long term (something I’m working on, commitment AND freedom LOL).
Mistake # 1 also accounts for why we don’t take action on our ideas sometimes .. cos we forget that if it doesn’t work out, we can almost always go back and try something new instead of sticking it out flogging a dying horse.
I LOVE what you say about getting rid of the drama and letting it be downstream. I’ve had to learn that one myself, being an ex drama queen in my day. Words I’m taking from you: downstream, better choices, calm and peaceful, save the drama fo’ your mama… and on that note, gnite and thanks for chipping in!