A Big Hairy Case of the "I Don't Wanna's!"

A big hairy case of the "I don't wanna's!"

Yeah, you heard me.  Yes, I CAN still be a big baby sometimes and my mind and my emotions are screaming, in unison, "But I don't WANNA!"

Should be "I don't Wah-Wah-Wah-Na!" because I just have to treat it as one big WHINE-fest!

"What IS she talking about?!"

Ok here goes:

Today I had 6 miles to run for my Marathon training.

I didn't wanna do it.

And I didn't wanna.

Did I mention I didn't wanna?

I think I must have, I have a vague recollection of mentioning it.

I sat procrastinating until 4pm.  I was in an epic battle with my mind AND my emotions.  And they were both against my SCHEDULE and what I KNEW I needed to DO.

I'll bet you are curious to know who won that one?

It was a toss up until about 4:15.  Then, with all the strength I could muster, I closed the computer and put my sunscreen on, my visor, grabbed my Iphone/music and my earbuds and I walked out the door.

I already had my running shoes on, my running pants on, and my running shirt on you see, I had been wearing them since, oh, about 8 am this morning.

Finally I stopped waiting for my feelings or my mind to PROMPT me in to DOING the right ACTION.  I simply pressed the OVERRIDE button and began saying "get out the door" to myself. 

And I did.

So today I was a big baby, and I ALMOST allowed THAT part of me to have it's way.

This would have been disastrous, do you know why?

Because I would have FED it.

And those parts of me I FEED get STRONGER.

If I FED my DESIRE to NOT RUN, it would have been stronger the next time I NEEDED to run.  And eventually I'd chuck my whole training schedule to the wind and sabotage all my efforts because I already KNOW that if I begin to default to "not now" I will remain in a "not now" mood for a very, very, VERY long time.

Same with my eating plan.

Literally.  Same mechanism. 

With my running plan, when I default to "not now" it is as though next time I need to run I am a slug in molasses.  But with my eating plan, when I default to eating "off plan" it becomes a run-away stallion. 

Runaway slugs are NOTHING in comparison to runaway stallions.  It is difficult but not impossible to reign in a runaway stallion.  How do I know this?  Call it a close call in the Blue Ridge Mountains when I was a pre-teen aged girl.  I know.  I had a bad experience.  But I did it.  It is the same feeling when my eating plan is run amok, so believe me I prefer the pony-ride in May sunshine of structure and routine and healthy habits!

I'm not sure why it is that my mind and emotions turn tricky on me sometimes, but I'm not going to sweat it too much because I've set up absolutes in my journey.  I've set up healthy habits that allow me to quickly side-step my mind AND emotions if they are NOT agreeing with my primary goal of attaining and maintaining optimal health.

I have learned so much of what TO do that when my mind or emotions suggest something tricky, I can recognize it very quickly as "NOT GOOD CHOICE" and default to my schedule.

So my advice here?  Have a schedule.  Stick to the schedule even when you don't FEEL like it or WANT to.  Make your schedule agree with the schedule in our guide if you are on the weight loss phase of our program.  If you are in Transition?  Make your schedule agree with the Transition Guide.  Do it because you have DECIDED to, don't wait to WANT to or FEEL like it.

And you can achieve GREAT things!

Rinse and Repeat!