One Day or Day One?
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ― Lao Tzu
So today I did my first official training for my 5k. Oh, I’ve been working out, sure, but this was a program put together by someone who actually knows what is going on. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening!
Let me just open my head for your enjoyment for a moment, then I’ll share the key points, if you haven’t already caught them.
So last week, I’ve done more than I normally do, which led to me feeling healthy and happy and skinnier than I’ve been in a long time, even after just a week. I took a selfie to prove it.
I was so excited to get out in the glorious sunshine now that things are finally warming up, but it’s still cool enough to run outside. I took another selfie after changing because: excitement.
Who would have thought I would ever be excited to workout? Certainly not me. I’m a writer, reader and student type of person more than an athlete. I just want to stay healthy.
I had some great tunes going and for the first ten minutes, the program said to exert myself only about a 4 for a warm up. Head space: This is great! I can do this, I’m so excited, I’m going to smash this 5k! *Cue ridiculous dancing while still trying to go in a straight line* Ten minutes is up already? Ok, what’s next?
Thirty seconds at a 9 exertion, then thirty seconds at a 5 for the next ten minutes. Ok, here I go! Aaaaaaand, I’m done. No? Not 30 seconds yet? Dang. Ok, there it is, slow down… Ok. It’s fine. I’ve got this. Whew.
Time to go again, wow my legs hurt already. Just breathe. Just… where is my air? C’mon lungs, do your job! Almost there. Got it. We’re good. This is going to be fine.
Nope. Just nope. I’m dying. That’s it. Call the mortician, I’m done. How much of this is left? Ugh. Yeah, no. Oh good, slow down time… This is fine. I can get through this. I’m a strong person. I’ve survived worse. So it was mostly mental struggles, but I’m still strong! Right? Maybe? Yeah, maybe not. Yeah definitely not.
Crap, here we go again. In, out, in, out. Just. Need. Air. Nope, I’ll take death. That’s fine. Maybe it means my writing will get famous, right? Always happens after the fact.
Must. Keep. Going. I paid money to do this! I can’t waste it. I’ve posted it all over and people know about this. They won’t blame me if I just quit, right? I’ll just stop talking about it, no one will know… No one actually follows what I do, right? So it’s fine.
Ok, so maybe a few people were really excited about it. Loop hole… loop hole… ugh I’m stuck. I have to do this. What on earth was I thinking doing this?!? And WAY too soon. Next time, more time to train. Assuming I live to see another one. Pretty sure I’m going to die actually doing this.
You know, if I could just breathe, this would only be like an 8. I’m supposed to be doing 9 right? Maybe I could push just a little… nope. That’s not happening. Good try. Go me. 5 in between? Pfft, nope. Just stop. Just for like 5 seconds. Ok, keep moving. Yeah this is totally not a 5.
At this point, I think you get the gist of what was going on in my head. A lot of frustration and a lot of giving myself a pep talk to keep going. Good news! I didn’t die! In fact, during the cool down, I actually sped up a little because I felt better. But I was absolutely miserable before.
And while I was pretty miserable with the whole running thing, I meant I was miserable with my health overall. I would try to eat healthy and workout, but I had a tendency to plateau after every 2 or 3 pounds I lost and it would take months to get past it to lose another 2 or 3. You know, for 10 minutes of torture, I skipped over at least 6 months of plateau agony. I’m already down 6 lbs.
I wonder how often we extend our pain and misery like that. For just 30 minutes a day- and only 10 minutes of it being completely awful- I can save my self months of self-loathing and frustration.
For just 30 minutes a day, what would you be saving yourself?
If you took just 30 minutes every day for yourself, what could you do? Especially if you compact that over time. In just one year that equates to 10,950 minutes. Or 182.5 hours. That is a lot of time to take for yourself and to reach your goals, whatever they may be.
Can you just imagine how much weight you could lose, how many books you could write, how many songs you can compose, how much study you could get in… the list of possibilities are endless.
The thing is that it’s hard. It’s hard to focus on just one thing and give it completely our all, especially in today’s world of distractions.
It’s hard to take time away from so many other responsibilities.
It’s hard to put in effort after a long day and we are just so tired.
It’s hard to avoid so many easy distractions… Just 5 min on social media… Just one episode of this show… Just one drink with a friend… Just one cookie.
Because really, how often is it really just one? Then it somehow spirals out of control.
Maybe, if instead of saying just one of the easy things, we say, “Just one workout.”
“Just one chapter.”
“I’ll just write one page.”
Wouldn’t it be great to get carried away with those instead?
Even if we don’t get carried away, something as small as 30 minutes- only 10 really focused ones at that- can make a world of difference.
I no longer have to say, “One day I’ll get in shape.” That started today. From here, I will only get faster, learn to breathe better and have less weight to carry as I run.
The good news? It’s day 1. Meaning it can only get better from here. I’m now stronger than I was yesterday and I’ve simultaneously done something I’ve never done before. And you know what? That feels pretty amazing.
Take Control
Sometimes, all it takes it one step. We don’t have to run a marathon right away. In fact, we can’t. We have to train for that, starting where we are.
Get my Free Guide Control Your Story (←Click Here and I’ll send it to you) to figure out your strengths and how you can make a change.
