I am by nature a researcher, a planner and a perfectionist. All three of those things have the potential to lock my thoughts and actions down like Sing-Sing. We all have a way of being in this world and many times it works against us not for us. Personally I think its just habit gone wayward. The intention is good it’s just we get wrapped up in all these scenarios we like to create in our minds. Some examples of this might be: I can’t start exercise until after the first of the year because I might not have time and if the time I have isn’t perfect then I must wait for the perfect time which we all know miraculously appears after January first with the appearance of the exercise fairy. OR: I might as well just eat whatever I want because it’s the holiday season and I might as well enjoy every morsel shoved my way, I mean everyone is doing it and if I wait until that magic day of January 1st my life will be back to perfect order and I can eat right then because the diet fairy will magically appear and with one wave of the wand I will instantly change all my habits in one month. And then of course there is that big, big problem of FEAR. Fearful of looking stupid in Boot camp, fearful of falling off the diet wagon, fearful of appearing selfish, fearful of “not having enough”, fearful of creating an expectation you may not live up to.
So…this is my 2 cents of advice. Relax. If you are waiting for the perfect day, with the perfect amount of money, with the perfect amount of time, with the perfect amount of self-motivation…you are going to be waiting for Utopia, a fictional society written about in 1516. You can go buy the book but you most certainly cannot actually ever find a place that does not exist. As a Floridian I get asked all the time “ How do you run in that heat and humidity?” And my answer is “ If I waited for the perfect day, I’d never run”. I just deal with it and so far I haven’t passed out or missed a run other than the occasional hurricane, getting hit in the head by flying debris is not a smart idea. I don’t have a perfect diet, I don’t have a perfect exercise schedule, I don’t have the perfect amount of time…I just have the perfect intention of making my health a priority. Most significant changes we make in our lives are usually done one small goal at a time. Today is going to be as perfect as tomorrow will ever be .
