I’m pretty good at getting started. Like when I decide I’m going to start a hobby.
Let’s take crochet, for example. Yes, I crochet (no, I’m not 80 years old. But my grandma did teach me.). I’ve been doing it on and off for about…30 years.
Mostly off.
The beginning of the process really inspires me: searching for just the right pattern, thinking of the perfect person to whom I’ll give the project when it’s done (usually a new baby), finding exquisite yarn in a beautiful shade at the perfect weight. Learning the new stitches for the design is exhilarating in those first few rows, and I feel the most amazing sense of accomplishment as it starts to come together.
That’s about the time when I realize just how LONG it will take to crochet the WHOLE PROJECT.
Those first 10 rows come together in no time. But it hits me that the project is actually 150 rows long. And I remember that what was “no time” was actually 2 hours.
Did you just do the math? (because if you didn’t, that’s 30 hours, folks. And if you want to think in reality, if I crochet an hour a night, 5 nights a week, we’re looking at 6 weeks of crochet on the same project…if I never miss one appointment with that hook. And I can guarantee I’ll miss several.)
I don’t really want to tell you how many crochet projects I have started which sit partially done in my house. Suffice it to say…I have a tote in my basement devoted to them. With skeins of yarn, hooks, knitting needles, patterns, even an unfinished quilt that just needs binding. The problem isn’t the beginning. The problem is the follow-through.
I wish this only happened with crafty things. I could totally be ok with unfinished crafts if they were the only things left unfinished in my life. But, of course, it goes way beyond crafts. I start cleaning out my cupboards and make it about halfway around my kitchen before dinner prep begins. I start cleaning out the refrigerator, and the baby wakes up from his nap. I start an email to a friend and remember I need to start the cake for the weekend, so it sits in my drafts folder for a week. I start a new workout program…and I wake up with a head cold. I focus in on my nutrition and…we celebrate Thanksgiving.
Can you relate?
If you can, I’m glad you’re here. I said it yesterday, but I’ll say it again: Welcome. Welcome to my fresh start.
Two weeks ago, I started PiYo. (click link for more info in video form)
If you know me at all, you know I love to work out. I do it every day, mostly, and it is probably something that keeps me sane. I’ve done the gamut of programs, from P90X to Insanity, ChaLEAN Extreme to T25 and so on. PiYo is completely different. It’s a low-impact, high-intensity workout program that uses Pilates- and yoga-inspired moves to sculpt long, lean muscles and burn fat. Trainer Chalene Johnson created the program to help her get an intensely defined, long and lean physique, and Beachbody put it on dvd.
I am never going to be long, but I would really, really like to be lean again.
I discovered about a year and a half ago that my thyroid was broken. I am working through the process of figuring out what my 40-year-old body needs now, and how to do things the way it needs me to do them…I am not the person I was ten years ago. I am slowly accepting that. PiYo is my next step in that process. I have started many fitness plans in the middle of this mess…and I have not fully completed a single one of them. Discouragement is a killer…but I will never know if one of those plans would have actually WORKED had I finished it. I’m pretty good at finishing fitness programs in general…but not seeing visible results in the past year has rocked. my. world. This changes now.
When I started PiYo, I also started drinking Shakeology every. single. day. for breakfast. It is my favorite meal of the day, without a doubt. I plan to continue this indefinitely. I have felt a change in the way I physically feel, a difference in the way I think about what I eat the rest of the day, and it is a quick reminder first thing in the morning of what I’m aiming toward.
This is still my start.
My plan is to follow through.
This start comes at the same time as my start in the business of Beachbody. I choose this as more than a tool to earn a little extra income for my family (though, how could that ever be a bad thing??). I choose this because the health and happiness of the people I love and with whom I come into contact is incredibly important to me. I would love to have you join me as I work toward my fitness goals. I’d love to help you move toward achieving yours. I promise I won’t jump down your throat on facebook, or go on and on begging you to buy something or sign up or become a coach. I promise. But I may jump up and down a little bit when I hit my goals.
I’d love to jump up and down with you as you hit yours too.
Feel free to like my page on Facebook: SweetSpot – Mindy Hayes and follow me on Instagram @sweetspotwell …
SweetSpot. 