My new year did not start off as planned…. How about yours? (not even going there about mercury retrograde)

I think we put too much pressure on ourselves every year. To start fresh & new. “This year I will … insert your action item here” “New year, New Me!” How about New Year’s resolutions? Anyone do those? If so, how many of them do you accomplish? 

If you’re anything like me, you make a list, check off the boxes a few days in a row and then “something” happens and you’re thrown off track. You valiantly try to get back to it, but then you miss another day. And another. All too quickly weeks have gone by, and you’ve decided to scrap the whole thing because you’ve already missed so many days that it’s pointless to even start over.

Fuck it, I’ll try again next year.

Consistency. It’s hard.  

It’s those hard days. You know the ones I’m talking about… The getting up and going to the gym on the days you don’t want to. The eating healthy when you just want that damn quarter pounder from McDonald’s. Not having a drink when everyone around you is. Walking away when you want to get the last word in. Sticking to your no when it’s easier to say yes. Pick your poison. There is a comfort in what we know. ‘This one time won’t matter- I’ll get back to it tomorrow’  

I printed out this picture and quote from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson that has quite literally followed me around from job to job: “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work gains success. Greatness will come”

That quote has always sat with me. Consistency is something I had struggled with for a long time because I used to assume if I messed up, that was the end of it. But that’s not fair. You can’t be on 100% of the time. No successful person is. The Rock? He has off days too. I don’t need to know him personally to know that. He’s a human being. We ALL have off days. What makes him so successful at what he does though is consistency. Consistently showing up even after the set back.  

In my experience, you must give yourself the grace to recognize that sometimes the changes we want to make are hard and are going to take time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and all that. You have to push yourself through the days where you don’t want to get up and do the thing. Consistency can look like baby steps. Maybe instead of changing your whole work out routine you commit to walking every morning. You may miss some mornings, and that’s okay. This may not feel like much right this moment, but as you gain momentum, you’re walking a little further every week. Then wait for it – maybe you start to jog. Hell, now you’re even hiking. While you’re beating yourself up that you didn’t hit this major work out goal, you just accomplished a life change without even realizing it. All because you showed up consistently with the baby steps.

Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes, we need to rest too. That’s where the grace comes in. You’re not giving up if you’re taking some time to rest after you get knocked down. That’s probably the universe telling you to reevaluate your current setup. Also, a gentle reminder: It doesn’t make you less of a person if you need help and support to get yourself back up. You give up consistency when you don’t get back at it. When you let that set back throw you back into your comfort zone.

Do we come out of the womb running? No. We can barely move and need someone to take care of our needs. Then it’s tummy time, lifting our head, crawling and then walking. If you’re fortunate enough, you have someone there nurturing you, showing you the way and supporting you when you fall.

What have I learned this new year 1 week in? Grace + patience are paramount to successful consistency. Both of those items tend to be in short supply for this woman writing this and I was grateful for the reminder. You are going to have off days. Shitty days where you want to quit. Cry. Curl up into a ball. Honor those feelings. Instead of beating yourself up and rushing to judgment about how you failed and then giving up… just be. Sit in the storm. There is a message in that moment if you can quiet your mind. Most likely that’s the message you need to hear to keep going.

Consistency is hard work. It’s hard to break out of your comfort zone and really implement change. Anyone can say they are making changes, but it takes hard work to stick with them. It’s why you see the gym filled in January and empty again in March. But if you keep pushing through, those times where you stumble? You’ll find yourself getting up faster. Getting stronger. And the consistency will come easier.

With Time.

With Patience.

And with Grace.

Always love,

T