With Christmas only four days away, and the brand new year of 2015 less than ten, this time of the year is a great time to just quit everything we’re doing and fall back on the ‘meh, what’s the point? I’ll be eating whatevs, drinking whatevs, and doing whatevs for the next couple of weeks anyway’.
It’s totally a great time for that. And hell, why not? Let’s get another 365 days down the track and be exactly where we are right now. That’ll be fun.
You know, still full of the same reasons and excuses that we keep telling ourselves that are keeping us from the lives we wish we had. The body we wished we owned. The relationships we wished we had developed. The experiences we wished we could have. The careers we wished we chased more. The outlook on life that keeps getting pushed further and further back down the hole and completely from our mind.
So far in fact, that we keep choosing to drag our feet out of bed every day with the same thoughts running through our head. The ‘oh, its okay, tomorrow is Friday, after all. TGIF!’ existing so prevalent in our culture and the mentality etched in our minds that this is just how it’s “supposed” to be.
But, it isn’t. Well, it doesn’t have to be anyway.
Getting real.
One of my good friends just got accepted to university this week. And, they’re almost in their mid-twenties. They’ve had enough of the society-shaped view that once they’re in a job, they’re in it for life.
To them, after two years at the one place, just having a great job doesn’t mean that they have to stay in it if they’re unhappy and know they have more to give.
There comes a time in everyone’s life (actually, it probably happens way more than just once), when weighing up money security and our one shot at life comes to the forefront of our brains.
For them? Yes, they have a great job. Yes, they have the opportunity and skills to level up within this job, but they’re taking a step in a new direction. A completely new direction. And, even if it doesn’t work out, they don’t care. They’re willing to put it all on the line with a complete understanding that even though getting this degree is going to take four-plus years of their life, they’d rather have a crack at something new, than still be doing the same shit four years down the track.
They got real and realised it’s time to chase something they’re passionate about.
What are you going to get real about next year?
Getting clarity.
A client of mine has recently been totally frustrated with themselves after putting weight back on after making an overseas trip earlier in the year. They were fighting with themselves about not getting back quickly to where they were before they left.
Fighting with themselves?, you might ask. And yeah, it might sound weird, but it’s quite normal.
As you may know, and can agree on, when you’re frustrated with yourself for not achieving things as quickly as your brain can process the many tabs you have open on your internet browser, results that seem so far off, can play on your mind. Depressing thoughts – ‘everything’s impossible’ thoughts.
So, when they were practically battling with me and telling me that their programs weren’t exciting them anymore, they were sick of their food, bored with exercise, I asked them to bring in their top three questions they had about all of it.
The next time they were in, did they bring them? Of course not.
By giving them the task of putting their frustrating thoughts out onto paper, it gave them the clarity that they were on the right track. The program was getting them better, their clothes were looser, their results were coming.
Like I talk about in Six Steps for Success, by putting what’s inside your head out onto paper, it can make a whole world of difference. It can make what’s in your head official. It can make you a helluva lot more patient with the road you’re traversing. And, it can give you clarity.
One reason why I received this text from them the other day after training:
What are you going to get clear about next year?
Getting true.
6-8 week challenge results that get circulated at this time of year are not always something that you should compare yourself to. Yes, people can have amazing results with them, but they’re not the be-all and end-all to change, growth, health, fitness, and lifestyle.
It’s not always about the quick. If it takes you three years to get the weight off, and keep it off, then so be it. It’s a much better circumstance than just falling back on challenges after random binges during the festive season.
A few days ago when I had one of my random tri-weekly Facebook newsfeed scrolls (yep, I literally don’t go on the Facebook newsfeed more than 2-3 times a week), I came across a couple of people commenting back and forth with the subject about Christmas and training.
Their words to each other (very paraphrased, mind you) consisted of “omg after Christmas and new years, we have to do a 12-week challenge to get back in shape”, and returned responses like “omg yes! I have been sooo lazy lately, we have to sign up for one!”.
Now look, before I go any further, let me say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting back into training after some time off. Hell, I’m the perfect specimen for that.
There’s also nothing wrong with challenges (I actually have one starting on the 2nd of February, in fact. Though, not one of those “traditional” ones).
What is wrong – to me anyway – is the mentality of a “quick fix” where it only takes you 6-12 weeks to get into shape and set you up for the rest of your life.
It really isn’t about the quick. This type of mentality is killing a lot of people’s outlook towards all things health and fitness related.
It’s an extreme mentality. And with the constant posts of ‘this person lost X-amount of kilos in X-amount of days’ being circulated, it can make the outlook on bettering yourself only possible by going through 6-12 weeks of extreme dieting, HIIT, and feeling sick as you climb back into your car.
Getting true to yourself, listening to your body, knowing what it is capable of doing, knowing what you’re capable of doing, is a much better setup for assurance that you will keep your results.
What are you going to face up and get true about next year?
In closing.
If you keep running the thoughts in your head that you have no more chances in life to change things, no more time to get after what you’re passionate about, no patience to achieve what you’re after, no desire to be true to yourself, and no ability to grab the reigns and control the hell out of your life, then it’s all over.
If you accept defeat that easily, then why even get up out of bed? Why not finish this year stronger than the last? Why not finish this year so strong that you can go into next year and actually crush it to get where you want? Why not change the course of your life right now, rather than hashtagging a photo on Instagram early in January with #NewYearNewMe, but get to December, 2015, and be exactly where you are right now (just a whole ‘nother year older)?
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.” – Mark Twain.