Imagine this. You are on vacation. You decide to let go and not stick to your everyday dietary lifestyle, yet you maintain a normal workout routine. You drink pina coladas, sip delicious wine, enjoy some sweet chocolatey goodies and give in to certain temptations. Then you return home. Your routine is off because you are still in vacation mode, there are so many things going on at home that your exercise falls to the wayside and you are stressing out like crazy. How do you get control back?
You first need to understand something. It’s perfectly fine that you splurged while on vacation. You are allowed to live! You “treated” yourself…not “cheated” yourself. Remember the difference? There is nothing to feel guilty about…especially being that you worked out while on vacation everyday. You also need to remember that life is going to happen to you.It doesn’t stop because you are on vacation and it certainly won’t slow down so you can catch up when you get back. In order to achieve a level of peace, I am going to give you the gift of a quote that has recently helped me out:
“You can always start over”
If there is a moment in your day that isn’t going the way you wanted it to, a time that you did something that you weren’t quite proud of, something you ate that you feel you shouldn’t have eaten…you can just start over. It’s that simple! Holy cow! What if you applied that to everything in your life? Every piece of your healthy mindset? Can you imagine how much more fulfilling your days would be? How much clearer your mind would be? How much stronger your relationships would get because you have a greater level of acceptance for your life? How much better you would physically feel because you are not making yourself suffer?
I am in no way saying that you should sabotage your life and declare, every hour or so, “I can just start over.” It is, however, a way to take a bad moment and make it better. It is a way to make your day a new one at any point, after any mess up or mistake. When you have a healthy mindset, one thing to fully believe is that it’s ok to screw up. It’s perfectly normal to not be perfect all the time. It’s healthy to not be healthy every minute of every day. You are only human.
Although your days may be filled with complete peace or chaotic moments, I want you to know that this next minute can lead you to a new beginning. So make this moment that new start. Get focused and become determined to maintain your healthy mindset and lifestyle. Start over. Realize that you are able to enjoy yourself and not lose track completely. And most importantly…do not punish yourself over it. It’s when we punish ourselves over it that we give up completely.
There will be times in your life when things don’t go as planned. Then there will be times when you will plan your entire day, your entire week, and they go swimmingly well. Both are ok. Both are acceptable. Both give you a reason to start over in a bad moment…a bad choice, or a moment of weakness. It’s when you don’t move forward and take the next step that the failure begins to set in. So don’t let it. You can always start again!