This is a written conversation I had with myself over the summer. I remember sitting on the couch feeling miserable, stuck and totally discussed with myself and my circumstances.
As an Extrovert, I “think” and “process” out loud. It drives my family and friends crazy when I ask questions that I really don’t want or expect them to answer. In most cases I’m speaking out loud but talking to myself. I know, strange. Don’t judge me
On this particular day, since it was just me, myself and I in the room I decided to take to a piece of paper and to figure out where I was, why I was in this place and how I was going to get out of this rut.
The “conversation” went as follows, and out of it came a list of 38 things I could do to get out of my weight loss/blogging rut.
I’m stuck. Why?
- Because my blog and business concept centers around my own weight loss and helping others with theirs
- My own journey is at a standstill because my knee, feet, and back HURT, which causes me not to workout, not to be able to do basic stuff ie: walk
- I can’t muster up the courage to blog, motivate or help others (via my blog, Weight No More group page, etc.) because I’m not leading by example
- I feel like a fraud, a quack, an imposter etc.
I have to get unstuck! Why?
- Because I’m not growing
- My business is not growing
- My courage is in the toilet because I’m not putting my own advice to use in my own life
How can I get unstuck?
- I can eat healthy
- I can make better food choices (one meal at a time)
- I can track, measure and portion out my food
- I can eat within a certain caloric budget or point range (Weight Watchers)
- I can rejoin Weight Watchers to jump start myself
- I can eat low calorie substitutions
- I can blog about my reboot
- I can blog about the gentle changes I’m making
- I can blog about the struggles and how I’m determined to press through
- I can blog about the changes (across the board) that I’m making in my life
- I can blog about how one thing ties into or affects all the rest (in terms of all areas of my life)
- I can blog about my daily, weekly, and monthly goals
- I can do strength training exercises
- I can get on the eliptical, which would probably be easier on my knees
- I can ride a stationary bike
- I can do water aerobics
- I can write out and follow my weekly plan and menus
- I can keep food in the house and eat from my own kitchen
- I can cook my own meals
- I can try new things and new recipes
- I can share my day and how it unfolded with or without following my plan
- I can go to the market on a regular basis
- I can save money by not eating up all the food in one sitting
- I can blog about bouncing back
- I can make “bouncing back” the theme of my come back, brand, message, story, blog
- I can come up with several breakfast options that are healthy, satisfying, filling and sustaining
- I can eat and enjoy salad for lunch (at least most days until I get bored)
- I can grill up my chicken for the week and find multiple uses for it (eat it in a salad, on a sandwich, in a stir fry, etc. )
- I can learn how to enjoy cooking
- I can make my journey fun by conquering various challenges
- I can share my progress and my success with others and inspire them
- I can share tips on what I’m doing and how it’s working for me
- I can blog about how to break a window if you can’t get through the door (which is the gist of this blog post)
- I can use my life as an example and my story as a testimony
- I can coach on weight loss, bouncing back and rebooting yourself to keep moving forward
- I can blog about how I’ve eliminated distractions
- I can blog about how I manage my stress
- I can blog about how I fill my time with things that will make me grow and make me better
- I can blog about this new thing for me, which is my mid-life journey and the new things I am encountering and learning how to navigate
The moral of the story is that there is always something I can do to fix or at least work on fixing my situation. Sure I can’t run right now and I can’t teach Zumba right now. But I can do all of these things I’ve listed and more, and still experience the same level of weight loss and blogging success.
You see, when you find yourself in a rut, sometimes all that’s needed to get out is a change of perspective. As I shared yesterday, this year has been challenging for me. For months I’ve been in this stop and go pattern and being very inconsistent with my journey. That’s been quite draining. My goal now is to keep moving and not look back.