Small success is still SUCCESS!!

OK, yes I have been in hibernation since August!! I hope that everyone is having a great winter even though her in NC, we have avoided the worst elements of winter, so far anyway. I wanted to write to you today for a couple of reasons. First, to just make a statement that yes I am still here and continue to work on my own wellness goals. Several people have asked me when was the next update coming for the blog, which is an understandable question considering the lapse of time since my last post. As with anything in life, including our own exercise and wellness goals, it is easy to find reasons for why we do or don't do the things we plan :o) I will spare the excuses and instead say thank you for your continued support and the fact that many of you actually read the blog and even know when I have or have not updated!! You are truly great friends and supporters.

Second, I wanted to say a word about health. I have been in conversations with friends lately about their own exercise routine and the fact that many are starting the journey. What I keep hearing over and over is a tone of frustration. "I cant keep up with the others" or "I cant do this exercise exactly like the instructor demonstrated." Out of this frustration there is a tendency to internalize this as negative "self talk." Before long the message we give our selves is something like this, "look at you, you cant do this, why don't you just stop, look how out of shape you are, why don't you just stop trying?!" Sound familiar, yeah I have said those things to myself as well. Here is the deal, yes you are right you are not doing the routine exactly like the instructor said, but hey you are doing a heck of a lot more than you were last week!!! Keep up the work and you will be doing a lot more than you are this week!! I encourage you don't get so caught up in what you perceive as "doing enough or doing it the right way," that you lose sight of what YOU ARE doing and the progress YOU ARE making. Let me tell you, a journey to better health is long and is frustrating at times and you will be well served to learn to celebrate all of the successes along the way, both the big and small. Stop beating yourself up and start loving yourself for making improvements that are changing your life for good! Keep sight of the long term goal and before long you will be doing things that you never imagined that you could accomplish!!!

Your fellow traveler,
Travis