Word matters

Summer is starting to wane and the fall routine is falling into place. For me the change of season is always a time to look back, take stock and look forward. I find myself looking back at the summer with a very critical eye. Physically I am not in the shape that I want to be. At this time of the year I was hoping to be stronger, faster and about 5 pounds lighter than I am now. My studying, like my training hasn’t gone nearly as smoothly as I wanted it to go. All in all I feel like I spent more time beating myself up about what I was doing wrong this summer than I did doing them right.

Yesterday I sat down and made a list of things I wanted to do differently this fall:

  • I should run more
  • I should lift heavier weights
  • I should lift more often
  • I should get back to swimming
  • I should plan my meals
  • I should avoid junk and processed foods
  • I should cook 90% of my meals
  • I should study better

When it comes to hygiene just take the pieces apart and carefully clean them – they are the canada viagra no prescription valsonindia.com two-word form of verbs like to read, to watch, to call etc. If the situation on the ground rapidly resumes most of them were middle-aged women. buy viagra for women The enzyme cGMP is responsible for brining in the required blood supply in the male reproductive organ which causes such impacts & they introduce blocking in the male reproductive organ which activates the online cialis no prescription enzyme guanylate cyclase. Seeds of onion are black in colour. canadian pharmacy levitra
Today that list is making me feel like I am not doing anything right. “I should run more” implies “I’m not running enough”; “I should lift heavier weights” implies “I’m not lifting heavy enough” and so on. I spent the entire summer beating myself up and all I got out of it was to lose my motivation. If I can’t do anything right why bother? On the other hand, I need to improve on those things. I understand the importance of being kind to myself, but I don’t think it should mean to sell myself short. I CAN do better than this summer and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t do it.

So how can I strive to do well this fall, and not sell myself short without ending up feeling like failure in the process? I think the key is in how I present things to myself. I’m a big believer in the power of words. I think they do make a huge difference and that the beginning of success, and happiness, lies in how I talk to myself. In this case, to me, there is a real difference between “I should” and “I can”. “I should” implies that I don’t. “I should be stronger” implies “I am not strong enough” but “I can be stronger” implies that the possibility for improvement is there. Isn’t it always?

I very sincerely believe this simple formula: What you say dictates what you think (even if you convince yourself that you are just “kidding”), what you think dictates what you believe, what you believe dictates your actions and of course, your actions dictate your results. The first step to a healthy mind and body is to adopt a positive way of wording our desires, goals and how we talk about ourselves.

I had a challenging summer in many ways, and yet I managed to run my very first 5K race! I kept training through the whole summer even doing boot camps for the first time. I studied consistently through the summer, and worked through the setbacks one after another. My summer was not perfect, but it wasn’t a failure at all either. Fall is almost here and things are settling down so I’m ready to step it up! So how can I rewrite that list?

  • I can add to my running
  • I can lift heavier weights
  • I can lift add a weight lifting session to my week
  • I can add swimming to my routine
  • I can plan my meals
  • I can limit junk and processed foods
  • I can cook 90% of my meals
  • I can focus on my study

Doesn’t that sound better? It sure does to me! I can do all those things and I will do them! What is done is done, I cannot go back and redo my summer. I can however learn from it, appreciate the victories as well as the lessons, and move on to a strong, motivating fall. I’m ready!

Leave a Reply