Its Ok to Start Over

Learn to manage expectations about picking up where you left off. 

At Ariana Travelstead, we believe in hard word, patience, and perseverance; essentially building up your own grit to face challenges head on without giving in to lies or giving up prematurely. But what happens when you do give up or get side tracked? Does that mean you’re never going to achieve your goal? No ma'am, it does not. 

Written by Ariana Travelstead

Cheers to a new week my friends! Today my hope is that you will gain a little or (hopefully) A LOT of self-confidence from this post. It is too easy to let the negative self-talk that we listen to everyday, influence us and take over our dreams. No matter how small, your dream is a still a dream. I’m going to use fitness and health as our platform today because it can be the category that many of us struggle with surrounding the conversation around pressing the reset button.

It is ok to start over. Repeat after me, say it out loud, “It is OK to start over”. Whether that is for a new day, a new week, month year, decade-whatever! Do not define your life by the number of workouts you completed this week. *Maybe this is a good time to #redefinesuccess for yourself* You’re building your life-map, your resume, so that one day you can share your experiences with others!

Here are just a few examples of things that can often take priority over our health. We’ve talked about how much I support you in these endeavors. Life is going to throw a few of these curveballs at you on a consistent basis, and my mission is to encourage you to accept these as the beautiful parts of life, not a nuisance.

• You’ve experienced loss

• You’ve been in college focusing on school and social life

• You just had a baby, or you had another baby!

• You go through a big move

• Your kids get sick

• Your family gets sick

• You’re putting in a ton of hours at work

And here a few examples of why you might not WANT to start over

• You are afraid to fail

• You are afraid it will be hard work, it will not be enjoyable

• You don’t feel like creating discipline in your life

• You’re not ready to make any sacrifices or compromises yet

• You don’t have the courage or self-confidence to pursue this goal

Having courage does not mean that we are unafraid. Having courage and showing courage means we face our fears. We are able to say, "I have fallen, but I will get up." #mayaangelou

Getting back into shape- what does that even mean today?! It can mean so many things with all the fitness trends available today.  A seasoned runner may say this and your first thought is “Did I just hear you right?” But their goals are different than your goals. Let’s try not to judge each other so much when we see someone who already ‘looks’ like they have achieved success and remember they too have performance goals. Our bodies are in constant flux (due to above list of beautiful interruptions) and we always have the ability to reach a higher potential. It doesn’t get easier, you just get stronger.

4 Ways to embrace starting over

1)      Define your WHY to help define/clarify your goal- Why do you want to pursue this idea of ‘getting into shape’ and what does that mean to you? Do you want to run 1 mile? Do you want to go up the stairs without breathing heavily. Do you want to lower your cholesterol or simply feel strong during your workouts on a consistent basis? It can be very dangerous to tell yourself you want to get into shape to look a certain way. Why? Because Instagram tells you to? If this is the source of your why, dig a little deeper and try to find some long-lasting motivation.

2)      Define your definition of ‘consistency’: mentally, you believe you are starting over, because there has been a lapse in time from when you last put effort or physical work towards your goal. If you’re not clear on how many times per week you can commit to your fitness routine, it will ALWAYS feel like you’re starting over if you miss one day! This is key. It is perfectly ok to say you want to start with 2 workouts per week. If you set a realistic commitment for yourself and honor that commitment, guess what-you’re in a great place! It won’t ALWAYS feel like you’re starting over.

3)      No one really cares about your excuses. Sorry. While I encourage you to give yourself grace for letting your routine or goal fall to the sidelines, I do NOT encourage excuses. One of my mentors taught me that if you simply do not accept excuses, you are likely to come up with a solution much faster than an excuse. Doesn't that sound productive? (I know you're rolling my eyes at me right now and I'm laughing right back at you) ha! If you're serious about this thang, you will find a way. 

4)      Don’t give up if you slip up! Hit reset tomorrow, don’t wait for next Monday or next month! Life is never going to slow down. You know how everyone tells you ‘There’s no good time to have kids.’ Well alter your expectations slightly and tell yourself this ‘there’s never a good time to get healthy (get fit, change my career, etc.)’ You simply just find a way to make it work. For a lot of busy moms that means they get their pretty butts out of bed before 6am or they are killing it during naptime. Students go to the gym late in the evening, nurses-don’t even get me started. If you need some motivation, go talk to a nurse about how they keep up with their routines. You’re the real deal ladies! The point is, if you wait for there to be a ‘convenient’ time to get in shape, you’ll be dead before that goal comes to its start. #realtalk. It never gets easier, you just get stronger.

Again, I want to stress that it is OK to be starting over! Start to take inventory of everything you’ve learned from your previous go-around with your goal. Did you brave your way into a gym for the first time or try a new type of workout? What did you learn from that experience that you can build upon the next time? Did you die during that spin class? No…I didn’t think so, and guess what, everyone around you is busting their butt too. They’re experiencing the same feelings of discomfort, burn and mental battles as you are.

Each time you find yourself back at the ‘start’, you’ll have that resume of experiences to bring you further along. In fact, consider each day a new start. If you look at it that way….you’re truly always ‘starting over’. How do you like to look at this cycle? I would love to hear your thoughts below.

With gratitude,  

Ari

This is not a sponsored post. All suggestions and ideas are mine. All pictures have been taken by contributers unless otherwise noted. Please inquire if you desire to use any content of this post. Link Back to this post or tag @arianatravelstead for Instagram and @arianatravelsteadblog on Facebook