From Start to Setbacks to Failures then Achievements
There’s always a beginning and end to every journey, a starting point, and an end goal. But that journey is never a straight line from point A to point B, there are stops along the way and experiences you have to overcome as part of the personal growth that the develops and unfolds as you journey on.
Fitness goals and fitness journeys are not often viewed in the same fashion. Society has blinded us with an onslaught of marketing messages like “30-day rapid weight loss” and “quick fix, lose weight now” type of messaging. The truth is, nothing worth it comes easy and health and fitness is definitely one of those things that continue to challenge your patience and trust in the process of change.
Before starting my wellness journey in 2013 I felt like a complete failure. I viewed myself as a lazy apathetic woman who just didn’t have what it took to surpass fitness goals that I had set for myself. That perception I had of myself was really detrimental and destructive to actively pursue this vision I had for myself. Sadly, for years I viewed myself as a failure and it took changing my mindset to really propel myself forward.
2020 is a full year, but I also feel like it’s the year I’m experiencing a major glow up. A glow up according to our friends at Urban Dictionary means an incredible transformation. Initially, that term referred to a physical transformation, but for me, it includes how we change and evolve as individual people inside AND outside. A physical, mental, and emotional transformation.
With regards to setting my fitness goals and expectations in the past, I always set them towards either unrealistic expectations or towards life events. For example, the biggest goal for me to get into shape as an adult after my first daughter was born was my wedding. But once the wedding dress was off and the concern to “look my best” in my wedding dress was gone, the weight quickly came back. Other goals I had in the past were to try to lose 10lbs in a month and although that can be a reasonable goal for some, the realistic expectation of me reaching that during an extremely busy period in my life was not. Looking back at my past goals they were always set with the mindset of achieving a seeing myself in a certain way vs. feeling a certain way. When I identified what I truly wanted that’s when I was able to embrace the changes that needed to happen.
I’m barely getting myself back to the gym after being sick since New Year’s Eve. Historically I’ve jumped into the mentality of train hard, go hard. But this year I’m really easing my way into it so I don’t find myself burning out.
I went to the gym to try out a new sports bra by Nike, the UltraBreathe sports bra. A medium support sports bra that offers incredible support and breathability, two things that women are looking for when it comes to tackling goals. I loved how the Nike sports bra didn’t leave me dripping with a pool of boob sweat after my workout. We’ve all been there.
The mesh detailing in the bra gives this “badass” look and feel to the bra, which is amazing to embody when you’re trying to turn your setbacks into achievements.
“Failure is a step towards your ultimate success. It’s a lesson. A challenge. A chance.” - Tiny Buddha.
Learning to accept some of life’s setbacks is a really big challenge for me as a busy career mom who is constantly juggling trying to balance a demanding life. I know that one of my own weaknesses is that I’m really hard on myself when things don’t go according to plan. Part of self-acceptance and self-love is learning how to be more forgiving to yourself. This also plays a huge role in changing your own perception of a setback. They say that true champions aren't built by winning, but what they do when they lose. This is also true for yourself, it's not about the setback or failure, but what you do to overcome it that will determine the outcome of your success. If you find yourself falling off track, what do you do to get back on track? Can you learn to love yourself a little bit more, not be so hard on yourself for not being 100% in the game, and come back out of this setback stronger than when you fell into it?
So now I bet you’re asking how do you turn failures into success? It truly starts by changing your perspective and mindset. We embrace failure easier than we embrace success and I believe it's because we have grown accustomed to this feeling more than we have success. We understand and know what it feels like to fail because it happens so much more frequently than success in every aspect of life.
As adults, we begin to calculate and analyze risk in all choices we make instead of leaping forward blindly with faith. A fitness goal is viewed in the same similar manner. We stand on one side of a cliff knowing what’s on the other side, but there’s this canyon of the unknown that we have to leap over. On the other side could be a happier you, a healthier you, but it's often our fear of failure that holds us back from taking the first step. Everyone knows what they need to do to get into better shape, eat better and get your body moving. It's as simple as that, but we so often choose comfort versus challenge. We do this because we know that even though it's as simple as those two things, it's really hard to begin.
Always remember this: use your setbacks as opportunities to redirect your mindset. Don’t dwell on your setbacks, dwelling does nothing but waste time and causes regret and remorse. If you have a setback in your journey, try again and keep going until you get it right. You may make several mistakes, but you haven’t failed you only found several ways that didn’t work.
This post was sponsored by Nike Women and I was compensated to write this post, but all the opinions are 100% my own. || photography by Encarnacion Photography
