When we first decide to turn over a new leaf, our excitement can run so high! The desire to reach the end result fuels our thoughts and actions and motivates us to work hard.
We may, for example, promise ourselves to go to the gym every day, even exercise twice a day, going at it with extra intensity to make up for lost time.
Or, you may decide to throw away all tempting food in your house and eat mostly vegetables to cancel out a recent series of unhealthy choices.
I’m sure you know what I’m about to say, this can lead to burnout quickly!
A better approach of course, is to take things slower, and recognize that smaller steps done consistently will win out over big sweeping changes every time.
When you are tempted to think that skipping that short daily walk is no big deal, and it would be better to wait until the weekend when you can get to the gym and really workout with greater intensity, catch yourself and remind yourself of that simple fact about perseverance.
And when discouragement sets in because you’re not seeing the results fast enough, remember the story of the stone cutter:
“When nothing seems to help, go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” —Jacob Riis
Never underestimate the value of small steps done consistently.
Keep going, mama!