Fathima Shaikh
I’m working hard to stay consistent with providing content here. For the last several months that’s meant posting almost weekly. Realistically, if I want to stay consistent and keep swimming along here with writing and creating content this summer, that will probably mean I post every 2-3 weeks or so instead of every week.
Keep moving forward, no matter how slowly.
In the past when I’ve gotten into summer mode with more travel and scattered work schedules, I’ve stopped writing altogether even though I truly love it. When I’m not meeting my own self-determined expectations, it can feel easier to give up completely and start again later. If you’ve ever completely stopped going to the gym or making your lunches when life feels crazy, I bet you know that feeling, don’t you?
Instead of adjusting my expectations during different seasons in order to keep making progress, it’s tempting to stop moving forward completely. I conveniently forget to practice what I preach; to take some action, even if it’s not as much as I’d like, ‘cuz that’s better than doing nothing. I disregard everything I know about how much easier it is to stay consistent with a habit when, instead of quitting, you keep moving forward, no matter how slowly.
It can be tricky to make sure I’m moving forward, but also giving myself time to rest. These’a a delicate balance between pushing myself to grow and giving my workaholic self the grace to take a step back or live a little more in my current season.
You can do it all, but not all at once.
I’ve talked in depth about the seasons of life, both the literal and figurative ones. These seasons generally occur somewhat naturally in your training, parenting, work, diet, etc. It’s up to you whether you fight ’em or choose to embrace ’em.
You can focus on all the reasons you love the season you’re in right now. Be proud of everything you’re doing well in your current reality. Remind yourself that you can do it all, but not all at once.
…Or you can waste time beating yourself up for all the things you’re not doing as well as you wish you were during this season. {Screw you, perfectionism.}
I vote for choice number one, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the easy one.
Embrace the chaos.
If we’re friends on Instagram or Facebook, you may have noticed my feed has been filled with mostly pictures of friends, family and travels lately. In the last 5-6 weeks I’ve been to Aruba, Great Wolf Lodge, Saratoga, Boston and Newport.
Being in a season like this, with little structure and lots of random, albeit fun, plans used to make me anxious. I loved routine and, if I’m being honest, I still kinda do. But I’m also slowly learning to love these seasons of non-routine too.
In fact, I just might be able to love the chaotic seasons most.
During these seasons of disruption and evolution, I get uncomfortable in a good way. I’m really liking how, if I let it, the chaos and forced change pushes me forward. With every varied season I’m learning to adjust the expectations I have of myself.
I’m always a mom and wife. I’m always running a business. I’m always making time for friends and family. I always train. I always sleep. It’s just that the amounts of time and energy I have to put into these things varies greatly. I need to expect that and be okay with that.
There’s a sneaky type of comparison happening.
I’m slowly coming to terms with the idea that I can’t expect to be the bomb.com at everything I do all the time. When we think of comparison, we usually think about how we compare ourselves to others. And we all do that. Not shocking. Not usually useful either, though it can be if you use comparison for motivation. {Here’s how you can use that comparison trap for good.}
What I think many of us, including myself, often overlook is how often we actually compare our current selves to ourselves from another season. We wonder why we can’t do as baller of a job of something as past us used to do. Hell, we even convince ourselves that future us is going to be so much better than present us.
Uhhh… previous me didn’t have 2 kids and a business to run and am I keeping in mind that future me won’t be changing diapers, but will be playing chauffeur to my teenagers?
Stop worrying about what you were able to do in the past. Stop dreaming about how much easier or better it’s gonna be in the future. Set realistic expectations for current you given your current reality. And then be okay with that.
What are you really ready, willing and able to do right now to keep making some progress towards your goals? Click To Tweet
Keep swimming, Dory.
It’s funny because I get upset when my clients go totally MIA from training or eating green things when they’re in a busy season. Sure, it’s easy for me in those cases to suggest you do something instead of nothing for movement. That’s because I’ve practiced it for years. I know and have seen first hand that it’s a good thing to vary your training volume and load based on what else is going on in life.
Maybe you haven’t practiced this. The media is certainly telling you otherwise (no days off) so it’s not going to come so easy if it’s new to you. It’s tempting to wait until after your July vacation or when school’s back in session to “start exercising again.”
But, are you’re giving up until later because you’re not meeting some silly over-expectation you set for yourself?
Keep swimming, keep walking, and adjust your expectations as you enter the waves or climb the hills. Click To Tweet
Start now and keep going.
As we head into summer and schedules change for the next few months, many of you will be adjust your training schedules. Perhaps you’ll take half of your workouts outdoors with the kids instead of hitting the gym 4 times a week before work. That’s great.
I’ve had several members ask me lately to critique exactly what they are doing for supplemental workouts outside of our classes. Most of the time my answer is somewhere along the lines of “yup, it’s fine… go you… glad you’re moving forward!”
When it comes to members at Skill of Strength who have been training with us for some amount of time, they have a basic idea of what they are doing and how to exercise safely and effectively. At that point, they’re usually better off taking action rather than overthinking the details or setting some crazy expectations. These things often lead to procrastination, not action.
Just because previous you used to go to the gym for 90 minutes 4 days a week that doesn’t mean current you must do that. It might feel like 2 days for 60 minutes, what you can currently commit to, is just not worth it. This amount of training isn’t meeting your pre-determined expectations so you wanna quit.
Don’t. Just start now. Keep moving forward, no matter how slowly. Be okay with adjusting your expectations as you move through seasons in your life.
Ask yourself the tough questions.
This is not permission to expect less of yourself than what you’re capable of. This is permission to let your time with family and friends, work and training all ebb and flow. Be honest with yourself when you’re quitting instead of holding yourself to expectations you know you can meet. (Simply put, are you being lazy or do you really need to step back?) It’s okay to expect more of yourself sometimes and less other times.
And most importantly, this is a swift kick in the butt to keep moving forward. Always expect yourself to keep swimming. Always meet your bare minimums and remember move movement is usually good.
When in doubt, walk it out. 😉
… and just keep swimming, Dory.
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