"Start over" – one of the most dreaded things to hear.
Today is my 52nd birthday. People ask me if I feel older. I don't. I feel less dumb. Perhaps a certain level of dedication to fitness has helped me feel about the same physically?
One thing I feel less dumb about is, "I don't get as stressed when things don't go as I thought they should." For example, I didn't restart my work-outs after a surgery, for a lot longer than I had planned – but I did get started again and things are going well..
They key thing is I didn't need to start over, just start again. My fitness level declined, it did not end - that would be defined as "death." So, I only needed to start again from where I was, not over.
I also feel less dumb since I now see more value in others' stories. I love to see when people's "tests become testimonies and their messes becomes messages." This is something I learned from a man I worked with for a while about 20 years ago – Tim Storey - he's truly blessed.
(That's Tim in the back middle and me on the chair to the left. Ok, maybe I don't feel older but I look older - this picture was from 1995. In the front is Tim Miner - I was managing his business in San Diego at the time).
Anyway, an amazing example of the 'test and mess' plus the "start over not again' themes is Chandell Tytlandsvik.
Chandell Tytlandsvik is the girl in the Bowflex TreadClimber TV ads from Estevan, SK - she is also on their website and all print materials. She lost 105 pounds in less than a year and then has kept it off and further refined herself since.
Chandell is the poster-child for success in fitness. Her mess became her message and her test a testimony, that inspired 1,000s to begin a fitness journey. And today she continues her journey as well as inspiring others.
Well, guess what, even she misses some workouts. Heck, in March she missed a bunch/most of them since as she wrote in her recent blog, "life happens for everyone." Chandell's life formed a perfect storm and derailed her fitness plan, program, schedule, or whatever you want to call it.
Note, she wrote it happned "for" us not "to" us. She sees it as a positive!
This interruption is not a first for Chandell.
Now, what makes Chandell successful and has evolved her into the fitness poster child, is that challenges us with "when you have a couple weeks or like me a full month where you weren't as consistent as you like to be, what do you do..... You make a plan, and you START! Don't doubt yourself and just do it."
The longer you wait to restart, the longer it will take to get back to where you were. Even if you are only sporadic and not as regimented as you want, you can maintain yourself or maybe not slide as far back.
This is a long term goal, not a short-term measure. The only solution is to start again (not start over, just start again).
A lot of people begin the New Year with a fitness goal – a plan to change their life. This is the time of year where things change – it's spring – so our routines are interrupted.
Remember that even the fitness poster child has this happen to her, but what makes her successful is what she does next – she starts again.
So please remember our tests and messes, let them have value as testimonies and messages. Sometimes life happens – but it's not a big deal unless you make it one. Just start again and eventually it will fade into the foggy blur known as memories or "did that really happen?"
A finally, remember, you only need to start again, not over.