Excuses are Like Bellybuttons, Everyone Has Them

Excuses are like bellybuttons, everyone has them.  (Everyone has a bellybutton right?  I’m trying to be inclusive.)

The first part of this year, I was on top of my shit.  Well, in certain aspects.  I was going to the gym every day, I was getting stuff done, I was pretty proud. 

Then summer came and my daughter was on break.  We immediately went on a road trip, and it was amazing, but that was the beginning of my long list of excuses.  I stopped going to the gym because my daughter was at home. So I decided I’d workout outside and at home to keep up.  Guys, I’m going to let you in on a little secret, I’m not that kind of gal.  Lol.  I need somewhere to go and something to force me out of the house to do it.  Like taking my daughter to school for instance.  So, the gym fell of the wayside and the summer turned into many lazy days of sleeping in and making excuses as to why we were doing it.

About a month into the summer, I had an incident where a swing snapped on me midair and I flew into a pile of large rocks.  Now, I’ve always wished to fly, but not like that.  I spent some time on my couch healing, but that became an excuse to not do other things.  A week later I hit my elbow on the corner of a table and now, four and a half months later, it’s still messed up.  I then used this excuse to not go to the gym, well into my daughter going back to school.  My elbow is hurt, surely I can’t go to the gym and work out the rest of my body. Right?  I watched as all of my progress from months of early morning group exercise classes faded away.  I started to fall off of my 80/20 healthy eating.  Because two days in a row I ate like shit and I had my period, so what’s it going to hurt continuing to eat garbage the rest of the week? 

No, dude! 

Have you ever experienced that feeling of looking at yourself and your actions from the outside and screaming what the hell are you doing?!  Stop it!  But then you continue doing it anyways?

Why?  Because you have an excuse, right?

Ugh.  No man.  It’s easy to think that way, but easy doesn’t mean right.  Watching yourself slowly give up on your goals is not ideal.

But, as humans, we ebb and we flow.  We go hard, then pull back, and maybe realized it was a bit too much.  But we’re constantly learning and growing. 

I don’t hold myself in contempt of what transpired this summer, but I did finally say, enough!  I’m writing this from the gym.  I’m back and slowly working myself up to where I was at in the beginning of the year.

Will I fail again? For sure, I’m human, that’s what we do.  The key is not to let it take you down.  We rise and we fall and that is all just part of being alive.  We are in control of what happens in our reality.  You can learn something about yourself every day if you take the time to pause, and reflect.  I’ve started these writings again for just that.  I hope that someone out there, reading my story can relate.  I hope you realize that failure is just a stepping stone.  Your excuses will fall away when you identify them and say not today-that’s where progress truly begins.