Have you ever chosen to do something really hard? No one asked you to, no one even suggested it would be a good idea. You just did it. Doesn’t it feel amazing?! I’ve done two things recently that turned out quite rewarding indeed.
First, I did my Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD for thirty days straight. No days off. Period. It was not fun. It was a real pain at times. But I had a goal and I reached it. I cannot say I lost a lot of weight, or look perfectly toned because of it. Because I don’t. But it was still amazing. I did it for two reasons. 1) I am awful at taking the time to exercise and thought it would be good self discipline. 2) Any time I make myself do something I absolutely hate I am strengthening my spirit and not giving into my flesh. Training my self that I can’t always have what I want the moment I want it has to be a better exercise than just physical.
If you ask me how my workout habits are now that I completed my thirty days, it is quite embarrassing. I seem to function best when I have an almost unattainable goal. It’s like a dare, so I do it with everything in me! But when I try to do things in moderation, I easily explain away the reasons to do it. That, combined with a second part time job and two more writing classes to teach, has made my workout habits all but nonexistent. But I’ll try to keep on it… a little.
My second great accomplishment of the last month and a half was knitting a pair of complicated mittens. I found the pattern on Pinterest (of course). It was all on a grid diagram with no written instructions. Taking it as another sort of dare, I knitted them, figuring out the instructions as best I could. I finished the first mitten and was almost shocked at my own success. Then I finished the SECOND mitten. That’s the problem with mittens you know, once you finish one you have a whole other one to make. Although I have recently discovered that I didn’t understand the grid instructions as well as I thought and there was a much easier way to complete them than I did, I am quite happy with them. And now wear them everywhere.
Motivating ones self to do things that you don’t really want to do is not easy. Especially when it is you telling yourself, without outside accountability, like writing this blog. (That was a sort of apology if you missed it…) But it is incredibly rewarding. You suddenly feel proud of something you accomplished in your spare time. Try it. Set yourself some goals. They might have nothing to do with exercising or knitting, but there has to be something you have been wanting to do, but haven’t made time for. You might be surprised how much you enjoy it and are pleased with the result.
Your World Upside Down 