New Beginnings and Transitions

It’s going to be messy, people! And we have to accept that. When we start something new we are breaking the neuropathways that have been programmed into our subconscious. The longer we have been doing the act/habit/practice the deeper the groove. It’s a transition from the old us to the new us. It’s ugly. It’s not perfect. It’s going to be difficult. And it’s supposed to be.

 The sooner we accept and appreciate the nature of change, the better. And even better yet, go gentle on yourself. Be kind. Yes, push yourself. Yes, get out of bed and do the work. And yes, embrace the suck and failure. But… and this is the thing, we have to just start. Even if we don’t hit our numbers or do the time we ideally had. It’s okay. All that matters, it that we tried with a reasonable amount of effort. It’s new. We are not conditioned to hit high numbers. 

Whenever I take a long break (like a few months or more) from my calisthenic exercises it takes about two weeks to condition my muscles to the movement alone. It’s usually my legs and glutes from body squats that are affected the worse. The soreness lasts for days. And it’s a soreness so severe that you really can’t work through it. And this is no matter how low of a rep number (I’m talking like a pathetic ten reps and seven sets). It sucks because I can’t hit my five-days-a-week target and I have to accept four days. I also have to start with really low reps of about fifty percent of what my regular optimum/max routine workout is for all exercises.   

 But I accept the fact and persevere. We have to be kind to ourselves as we go through the mud. It takes a month to form a habit. So allow for it to be choppy and understand that falling short is just going to happen. The only thing that matters is that you just start your new positive, life-changing habit. The mental shift and the action alone in the new direction is a fantastic start. 

I just started a new morning routine and a new daily writing practice of several hours. It’s been messy and not perfect. I haven’t hit my numbers. And that’s okay. Because my head is in the right place and I’m doing the work. My goals are clear, and I accept that there is a teething period as I figure out the timing, order, and realistic production rates. 

As long as there are micro movements in the direction of our goals, I’ll take imperfection every time over nothing at all.