Are you showing up for yourself?

The other night, I did NOT want to take the time to fold all the laundry that I had just taken out of the dryer and thrown on my bed to look through for my tennis clothes for the next morning. But, I have this personal rule that if an important task only takes 5-10 minutes, I should do it now instead of putting it off.

Now, when I say I did NOT want to do it, I mean I really, really, really did NOT want to even fold one single tank top!

I was tired from an exciting, yet exhausting, day and I was looking forward to settling in with my cup of tea and getting ready for the next day. I was counting down the minutes until I could get into bed. I’m sure you’ve been there. 

But, I knew the laundry was not going to magically fold itself. And I also knew something else, from past experience – and it’s actually why I’m writing you this message today.

I knew that if I didn’t keep my commitment to myself, it’d be easier to break that commitment again – and again, and again. 

I also knew that it would have a ripple effect, making it easier to break other commitments to myself, too.

So instead of throwing it all on the bench in front of my bed, I actually folded every piece of clothing and put it all away…even though I wasn’t in the mood for it and was the last thing I wanted to do. 

I’m not going to say I did a stellar job or that I had some kind of mystical epiphany while I  folded and put away laundry. But, I can tell you that it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had made it out to be in my head. 

When I finally DID go to bed, I felt pretty good about myself for powering through, even though it only took about 10 minutes.

The truth is, you have to show up, even if it’s just for yourself. ESPECIALLY if it’s for yourself, because that helps you show up even better for others.

It’s not any different than workouts you want to skip, or the little treats you are tempted to sneak in when no one is looking.

The more you let things slide, the easier it is to keep doing so. They don’t call it a “slippery slope” for nothing.

 I think we’ve all said these things to ourselves before: 

• “Skipping my workout today won’t make a real difference, anyway.”
• “I’ll get back at it tomorrow.”
• “I’m really tired/hungry/stressed because work was crazy today, I just want to go home and relax…preferably with a glass or two of wine.”
• "Just one more cookie won’t matter."
• “It’s so dark out this morning, I don’t want to get out of bed.” 

And obviously, sometimes you HAVE to miss a workout or change up your nutrition – maybe you’re sick or it’s a super busy at work or you have an important family commitment. Life happens. 

But here’s the question: Are you showing up for yourself the way you promised? 

No one says every workout has to be a record-setter – but I’d argue that the workouts you don’t want to do (or those diet temptations you find hard to overcome) are the MOST important. 

They help strengthen another set of “muscles” … your motivation, your confidence in yourself and your inner knowing that when the chips are down, you CAN count on YOURSELF to get the job done! 

And that’s pretty amazing...even if it’s something small like folding a basket of laundry (which as you can see isn’t really that small, after all.) 

Do you want a little help following through with that promise to yourself to eat healthy most of the time and stay consistent with your workouts? That’s exactly what I’m here for.