That’s it I give up. I just don’t want to do this anymore.
I don’t know how many times I have said that. I don’t say it lightly. When this comes out of my mouth I totally mean it. And I know I have said it too many times, about too many things. Yet, I know for a fact that I will say it again even though I don’t want to. So, how do I fix that?
How do I stop giving up?
One way for sure is to stop giving up and just concede a little. Take a break instead of stopping.
We, as a rule, tend to go all out for most things. The whole idea of pacing yourself or taking a look at rest just doesn’t seem to be something most people do. Taking a break or a rest is seen as a weakness. This is a big lie.
We are not machines. We are made to rest after we work, so why is rest seen as a weakness. I am really not sure, but it is. Maybe the real issue is that we don’t know how to take a rest and then when the rest is over, get back at it. We rest, feel the weakness creep in, and concede to that feeling and quit.
The other thing we don’t tend to do is really look at our progress in something and then realize that we need to change what we have been doing. Years ago when we were growing one of our businesses, it started with only a few clients and then grew into a few staff, then to an actual out-of-the-house office, then more staff, a bigger office, and more clients, larger budgets and you see the trend. As we grew, our needs grew. We outgrew our bookkeeper, our accountant, our actual office, our everything. Our personal growth is the same.
We need to realize that there is a reason we don’t do the same things now that we did in high school. We may have some of the same friends but not likely all of them. We have new habits, new wants, new needs, new goals. We have different hairstyles, hopefully, do our make up differently, we hopefully are not wearing the same clothes as way back in the good old days, so its ok that our routines may change.
We, Doug and I, started getting our healthy act together over six years ago. Most days I regret not starting sooner, but then there are days when I just want to go back to the sloth on the couch eating junk and being ok with that. Sometimes it is just too hard to keep track of food and activity. Sometimes it is too ugly getting up so early to get a work out in. Sometimes, I just want to eat anything I can get my hands on.
But, that is all ok. We need to shake things up. There is a reason that a lot of nutrition experts and weight loss professionals now agree that a “reward or cheat” meal is an essential part of the process. It is just how we are made. Too much discipline is just that, too much, for most of us.
If what you are doing is not something that you can sustain for any length of time, you will eventually quit. As long as you don’t quit forever, that is ok too.
We shook up our workout routine in the fall and I thought that I could handle the ‘new’ routine. But, I now know that I can’t. So, after a few months, I am back at it. It felt like I quit, but I didn’t. I needed the time to do some self-reflection. I needed to reevaluate what I needed and wanted and to look at whether what I had been doing was the right thing for me. Apparently, I needed the change and I wasn’t even aware of it.
So if you get to the point where you are ready to throw in the towel, maybe just keep it tucked away.
- Do some soul searching
- Reevaluate why you started and where you are going. Sometimes you need to look back and see that you actually have come a long way.
- Start your personal checklist again. Do you need to change your goals?
- But most importantly DONT QUIT.
- Slow down, but don’t quit.
The race isn’t over until you have breathed your last breath, so there is still time to reach your goal.
Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul. – Douglas MacArthur
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