I had the pleasure of attending a Women’s Self Care Retreat in Costa Rica with Evolve Holistic at the beginning of February, and it far exceeded my expectations! Among the many useful things I brought home, learning how to identify and re-write my personal mantras was one of the most significant.
We started by looking at the things that we did well, then listed the things that we wanted to do but are not, and went through all the excuses for why those things aren’t happening.
Say you want to get to the gym more often so you can reach your fitness goals, but you’re busy and you don’t have a lot of time and the traffic is bad and you’re tired and you need to do this other thing that suddenly seems more important…
You likely spend a lot of time telling yourself that you’re busy or tired, which has become very convincing. Your excuses begin to work like a mantra, which is a phrase that you say over and over for an effect. “I should go but I’m busy. I should go but I’m tired. I should go but I’ve got other things to do.” becomes “I’m tired, I’m too busy.”
The next step is simple, but not as easy as it sounds: you gotta cut the bulls#!t.
You know you’ll feel better after you workout, no one ever regrets a workout! Check where you spend your time, and make fitness a priority over netflix, sleeping in, going for drinks, that event you don’t really want to go to anyway, etc. – say no to one thing so you can say yes to another.
(Here’s where feeling selfish can come up for many people, especially parents. As Jackie from Evolve Holistic said: “In order to be selfless, you must first be selfish.” Read – you can’t pour from an empty cup! Think of it as teaching those around you good self-care too, as I’m sure no parent wants their children to grow up learning that it’s normal to not take care of themselves.)
Once you’ve identified your favourite excuses and how they influence you, re-write your mantra to reflect the behaviour you want to see. “I’m too tired and too busy” becomes “I will be energized by my workout and I am worth making my fitness a priority.”
(Protip: avoid negatives like “I will not skip the gym”, as it sounds way too much like “I will skip the gym” – choose “I will make time for the gym” instead.)
Once you’ve got your new mantra, try it out and see if it feels true. Tweak it as needed, and then put it into action! Say it and write it as much as possible.
“I will be energized by my workout and I am worth making my fitness a priority.”
“I will be energized by my workout and I am worth making my fitness a priority.”
“I will be energized by my workout and I am worth making my fitness a priority.”
Repeat your mantra every day, every hour, as often as needed! When your mindset changes, you will change how you approach the challenge, and you will find success where you didn’t before. It’s not easy, but it is certainly worth it!
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I’d love to hear from you – what are your favourite BS excuses, and how can you change them? Email me at meagan.walker@goodlifefitness.com.
Resilience In Motion by Meagan Walker 