How do you keep yourself wanting that fit & healthy lifestyle???? How do you keep yourself wanting & working for that rockin' bod?? Most of us would probably answer with something like, do I have a choice? But you do. You could totally give up....why not?!? You could let yourself become sedentary, eat whatever you wanted & just give up. It's an option. For individuals like me, it's not an option. I choose to have healthy eating habits & exercise because I deserve it and my body CRAVES it. But at times we all hit those walls. Where you say to yourself, I absolutely CANNOT go to the gym today. If I eat another green vegetable instead of chips I might die. It's called burn out!!! And it's normal, everyone deals with it. We get burnt out with jobs, friends, exercise, eating, etc....it happens.
How do you combat when it happens?? Sometimes I persevere, I push on & just tell myself to tough it out. Sometimes I give in and have a day where I eat crap (I pay for it later though when I feel like total sh*t). And sometimes that feeling of giving in or giving up is exactly what you need. However, if you are running into this too often you may need a change in thought.
Goals. Goals are my favorite way to combat the burn out & that bored feeling.
Recently, I have uncovered a feeling of calm that I have never known. So much that the calm has almost made me anxious as stupid as that sounds. But I realized for the majority of my life my entire being & purpose has revolved around goals. I have found myself, for the first time in my life, goal-less. First there was getting into college, college, getting into PT school, then graduate school, 10 Ks, the marathon, half marathons, the wedding & now....nothing. And also recently I had found myself tired of the routine...get up, work out, work, come home, sleep, repeat. Time for a challenge.
Goals are a great way to get rid of the boredom & give yourself a new challenge. I set goals for my patients every day & watch them slowly & steadily achieve. I see how achieving one small goal can be life-changing for my patients. And you don't need to be a patient to have goals. It can be 1 goal, it can be several goals. They can be physical, mental, nutritional, whatever floats your boat! The most important thing is that they are realistic & something that is important to you. When starting something new I like to start small and set short term goals. Upon reaching that first goal I can set another. That feeling of achievement will empower you to want to do more. Long term goals allow you to make lifestyle changes & improve you.
I know for 2014 one huge goal for me is getting my RYT 200 hour completed, so I will finally be a certified yoga instructor. That's a huge long-term goal. Now for the short term I'm a little stuck....I'll have to think, maybe another race, maybe a triathlon???? What to do, what to do.......Try setting a short term goal for yourself if you are in that burn out era like I have been. Then try a harder challenge & set a long term goal. What are your goals??? How do you want to challenge yourself to improve you???
