Just keep swimming

I have a tendency to get frustrated when I don’t get something right the first time. Not unusual. However, I let that frustration escalate to resignation more often than not. This is not just in fitness but in life in general. . When it comes to my fitness journey, it was especially true.

 

I am doing the 12 week Fit Girl’s Bootcamp and in the midst of Week 3. I didn’t want to start, I didn’t think I was ready. The only reason I DID start was because of other amazing women encouraging me and letting me know it would be ok even if I wasn’t “ready”. Turns out, I was totally ready. Yes, I get frustrated sometimes, but I am learning to banish those thoughts. WHO CARES if I am not Olympic level with my glider tucks? I have learned to have fun and therefore learned to persevere in the meantime. Just because I don’t like something initially, just because I don’t feel like I am ‘good enough’ at it… I am so glad I was started to keep going.  I have been able to literally feel my body get stronger each week. I am trying to pay close enough to how hard things feel and that has helped me, in turn, notice how much easier they have become. It’s actually really fun and it’s the part that makes the perseverance worth it.

 

We can’t learn perseverance without experiencing some degree of difficulty. It’s not a “fun” skill to try to learn. I am confident that if I wouldn’t have started to speak gently to myself, love myself and show self-compassion then I wouldn’t have started the boot camp, much less been learning so much about my capacity to persevere.

 

I encourage you to identify what triggers you to want to give up. Is it frustration over not getting things ‘right’ or fear of being ridiculed as a beginner? Or is does it stem from an entirely different set of circumstances?