This week sucked. Not just with 75 Soft, but with a lot of things. Finances, personal stress, work stress – honestly it sometimes feels like everything is falling apart. I keep expecting everything to go wrong. With all this stress, even my body is constantly tight and feeling run down. I move a certain way and feel something pop where it shouldn’t, or everything cracks. But, what if I could discipline myself to exercise regularly?
What if
What if I could discipline myself to actually workout everyday? Would this benefit me, other than losing weight? You better believe it. I have noticed, in the past, when I am working out consistently my mental health is better. Stress doesn’t affect me as much as it does when I’m not working out. Why? I believe it’s because I’m burning off all the pent up energy. Plus, it’s been scientifically proven (so I hear) that exercising produces endorphins in the brain, which is the chemical that creates happiness. So, discipline in working out means I’m burning off stress and creating happiness. Why is this a struggle?
Struggle with self discipline
All my life I have struggled with self discipline. I tell myself I need to do something before a certain day, or time, and then panic and stress out because I didn’t. Or, I’ll take on a challenge and tell people I’m doing said challenge, like 75 Soft, and then fail because I don’t stick to it. Same with meal plans, diets, and even work related things. So, how do I change this?
Accountability
Accountability groups are a great resource and I’ll recommend getting yourself one all the time. Having an accountability group means you have people pushing you, when you’re struggling to push yourself. They’ll help you stick to something – if you have the right people. My accountability group is great, but we can all tell when we’re not fully holding each other accountable. On our check in day we all share how the week was rough, or a failure. But, instead of just sidestepping it, we ask – why was the week that way? What made it a failure? And, what can I do differently to make next week better? Sometimes it’s just a rough week as life throws a few curve balls. Other times it is self-inflicted.
growing in discipline
I really want to grow in self discipline. I want to be able to check in next week and say, “You guys! I had a great week and here is why.” Now, I will say I have grown in some ways. When I go to the grocery store for ingredients for meals, I do my best to stick to it. Now, I’ll have the odd time where I cave and buy something I don’t need. But, there is still a lot of growth. And I’m not eating out as much. I mean, it is due to my financial situation, but stressed Steph in the past would only stress out more because she would still get takeout all the time. See – growth!
was there success
YES! I said no to take out many times this last week and made my meals. Sorry, I didn’t get pictures of everything. I will try to do better. There were some delicious meals made. Chicken salad wraps, quiche, a chicken pasta dish, and more. I’m quite proud of myself. With money as tight as it is, I may have to get creative with my meals for the next month while I pay off something to get collections off me. And that’s okay. I have plenty of things I can be creative with. And once a week the people I make supper for provide any ingredients that I’m missing. Bonus! It’s going to be rough, but I count my blessings, and my successes.
discipline for this coming week
Okay, so I’m going to share this goal with you all in hopes that there will be a few of you to hold me accountable. For this week’s goal, I want to do yoga/stretching everyday. Like I mentioned earlier, even my body is beginning to feel all the stress. I did a yoga stretch with my friend yesterday and she asked if I felt looser. I did, slightly. However, it was short lived and within an hour everything felt tight again. Not even the hot tub has been able to help. It’s because I’m stressed. So, I will either stretch or do a yoga video everyday this week to see if that helps. I’m counting on all of you to harass me to do this. And hopefully, next week I will have my first positive report in a long time. Anything can happen, if I try.
Or maybe you have ADHD and are very early on in your journey of figuring out how to ‘hack’ your brain?
Surely folks who are further down that road could give you some tips.
True.