When life hands you lemons
Isn’t it strange how mindsets and motivations can change so drastically from one week to the next? Just last week I was talking about my determination to get rid of my winter rolls. But yesterday, everything was conspiring against me and the universe seemed set on me not going out for my weekly meditative cycle.
My heart and mind were not in it from the moment my alarm clock went off. My body ached, I wasn’t feeling too great and it was just so damn warm in bed.
But because I’m always talking about pushing yourself and doing it even when it’s the last thing you feel like, I should probably practice what I preach, right?
So I forced myself out of bed, dragged my bicycle to the car and groaned the whole time I was loading it.
But I had come this far. Surely I’ll get into the right mindset once I get to The Cradle?
Long story short, the ride didn’t go as planned but I managed to log 54km. And I learnt a valuable lesson: cycling shoes are not made for walking.
Because ….
One kilometre down the road from
my car and my bike tyre bursts. Talk about the laws of attraction!
The point is this. No matter how much we plan for something, sometimes circumstances and life derail those plans and force us on a different path. I should have listened to my body when I woke up but I ignored the voice in my head and pushed on until I was literally forced to stop.
Yes, I wanted to train. Yes, I want to lose weight. But sometimes I forget that, yes, I need rest too. I can’t be ‘on’ all the time, in a permanent state of go-go-go. I’m working on new and exciting things for my business but if I carry on like this and don’t slow down to actually think about how I’m going to make it all a reality, something is going to give. And it won’t be pretty.
And so that’s what I used my normal cycling time for. I got out my journal and thought about everything that was bothering me: Why don’t I feel like I’m good enough? Can I do this? Is it the right time? Will people like it? Basically, everything that was making me doubt my new venture, I journaled about and meditated on.
It felt so good to let some of that stress go. Stress is a silent killed. It starts a vicious circle of bad sleeping and eating habits. So I made sure to get in some nap time too.
Getting everything out and onto the page freed up some of my mental capacity to turn my focus to everything I have to be grateful for: giggling with my soon-to-be teenage daughter, cuddling with my two-year-old granddaughter, getting an unexpected yet amazing testimonial from a client, meeting new people in my classes and learning new skills.
I ended off my “personal day” with a long stretching session while listening to relaxing music. And, yes, I ate the chocolate.
The day didn’t start off well but it ended well and I’ll hold on to that a little longer because tomorrow it starts all over again.
