Did you also get taught that the way to get to the top – of whatever – is through perseverance and persistence and similar such words. I had messages ingrained that said things like “Don’t stop pushing no matter what.” Don’t give up. Be Unstoppable.
I call BS on all of that. Because we’re human… which means we get tired, we make mistakes and we get distracted. And it’s ok.
You don’t have to be “unstoppable” to get where ever you want to go. Even a car needs to stop for gas. We get lost and take detours. You don’t throw the GPS out the window and give up on the journey because you stopped.You just have to be “re-start-able!”
When I was transitioning my diet, or exercising or working in my business… I took pauses all the time. I take pauses all the time. Sometimes by mistake and sometimes by choice.
On every path I’ve been, I give myself permission to be human about it. Even a bit playful. It’s why it looks like I’m so persistent… because I am. Just not in a 100-mile-marathon kinda way. More like short sprints followed by naps. Some days I only have 40% in the energy tank to give and so I don’t try to give as though the tank is full. Giving “my all” respects what I actually have to give. And I’ll admit that sometimes it’s harder to re-start that it was to start in the first place. But that’s ok too, because if you know it going in, you can face it and bust through.
You can restart.
This permission to stop and restart might sound like self-sabotage. I mean, you don’t want to let yourself off the hook every 5 minutes for basically making no effort at all. Like the cliche that “Quitting smoking is the easiest thing. I do it every day.” Heh. But I don’t think you’re at risk for that. My clients and readers are not the lazy victim types who wonder why they can’t get anywhere. We’re the “pushing ourselves to exhaustion” types, and we need to let ourselves stop sometimes. So that we can persist for the long haul.
Work… rest. Work, work.. rest…
Stick to your eating plan 90% of the time. And then have a few bites of the thing that’s your favorite guilty pleasure. Then go back to the plan… whatever the plan was.
Push yourself, and then rest. Then push again the next day.
You’re better than unstoppable. You’re restartable!
Instagram is the only social media I can handle these days. Here’s my latest.
The Map of Life From the First Part