Thinking Out Loud – Choices

 

The rain yesterday morning was a bit insane.

If you live in the New York area, you know what I mean by insane (13 inches over a couple of hours?!) and if you don’t live near here, you probably don’t care and can just take my word on it that it was excessive and crazy.

I wore my Lulu rain jacket into the gym to tackle the treadmill rather than try to be some running hero attempting to challenge the weather that was pouring down into floods all over the place.

Can we briefly discuss that even though I cut two inches off my hair, it is still so crazy thick and long that my pony tail annoys the heck out of me while I run?

Blurry, I know, but you get the idea. I have tried braiding it, bunning it and even different hair ties to keep it from sliding down as I run.

No success.

Please tell me what works for you. Thanks.

I haven’t been on the treadmill since March and as much as I think that I dread the machine, I had absolutely no issue adjusting back to it yesterday.

I hate to even admit that the six-mile run went fast.

I always make things interesting when running on the treadmill in order to keep from getting bored.

I play around with the speed, create intervals and progression runs which keep the focus off of the time.

I organized a bunch of my treadmill tips and tricks-type posts and workouts in my running section at the top of the page. Click here to check it out.

I jumped right in to bumping up my speed and rather than interval it up and down, I just kept going faster and when I felt I was going fast enough, I held consistent with that pace rather than backing off.

I have learned to do an internal check-in with myself to ensure I feel good, to see where my breathing is at and determine if I really need to reduce my speed before I hit the down button to slow my pace.

When I take the second to think about things, it is very rare that I actually need to slow down.

When I do this type of mental evaluation before reacting, I realize how much I am really capable of handling.

I have learned to use this approach in other areas of my life as well.

Sort of like a think before you speak thing only it’s more like a think before you even think.

If you don’t check in with yourself, that’s the time when choices may be made that perhaps aren’t the best. It’s the time when excuses pop up and sometimes, you don’t even realize it.

Just like our discussions on becoming a morning runner or forgetting to eat, it’s all about consciously making choices instead of excuses.

You can choose to run a little faster and find that you can in fact handle it just fine OR you can drop your speed because you think that you can’t possibly take your pace to the next step.

You can choose to prepare your lunch for work in order to eat a little healthier and save some money OR you can tell yourself you have no time, nothing to throw together, buying lunch again won’t break the bank and it’s okay because you deserve the meatlovers extra cheese pizza again.

I am guilty of rationalizing one too many a Red Mango parfait and if I were to really stop to think about it, I wouldn’t allow myself to buy more than one a week because it is pricey and not necessary.

See that chocolate chip that fell? Part of me considered asking for the pennies back since I couldn’t eat it and totally paid for it.

You can plan for your workout and actually make it happen OR you can find some excuse as to why you just couldn’t today.

Oh how I love all of the “just couldn’t today because…” excuses I hear. That’s what they are, EXCUSES.

All of our daily choices in life either bring us closer or further away from our goals and personal happiness.

And, all of our choices are directly related to our self-esteem.

The more you value yourself, the more often you will stop yourself from making excuses and learn to instead make quality choices.

This doesn’t happen over night. It is a continuous process of recognizing when and where you make your excuses, why you are doing it and how to break the cycle.

It isn’t easy to recognize and own up to our shortcomings and our weaknesses but once you learn to do so, that’s when you grow stronger and self-confident on a consistent basis.

I talk about this subject with one of my best friends on a daily basis. She is currently going through a divorce and while she is doing amazing, some of her choices (when it comes to learning how to readjust to single life) have not been the best.

And as we discuss this topic, as I point out to her why and how her poor decisions are occurring, she is learning to recognize her strengths and weaknesses and how to make better choices which will help to reshape her self-confidence and outlook on life.

After going through my own divorce, believe me, I learned my lessons.

I had to learn how to keep my head out of the sand, how not live in ignorance-is-bliss-land forever as well as understand the strength that comes from learning to be content with yourself on your own.

The longer you go riding your excuses, ignoring bad habits and refusing to work on areas in your life that could use some attention, the longer you will take in achieving whatever it is you desire.

You like Oreo’s mashed in milk for dinner? That’s fine, just don’t complain to me when you have zero energy to run and can’t lose weight.

That annoying guy won’t stop calling? What did you expect when you ignored him for weeks and then suddenly decide to see him for dinner because you were bored and lonely and aren’t good at “doing nothing” by yourself.

You have no money in the bank but spend ten dollars every day on lunch? Don’t even get me started. In fact, just don’t even bother to call me to talk about this.

If we keep making excuses as to why we can’t prepare our lunch, why we emotionally eat when not even hungry or why we think we can’t keep up a pace that we most certainly can, we will never get a hold on our diets and certainly never teach our muscles and mind that we are capable of running much faster.

Everything you do today involves choices. Keep that in mind while you check out what everyone else is thinking about today!

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If you have long hair, how do you handle it when you work out?!

Do you find excuses to not bring your lunch to work or are you good at packing it most days?

Last treadmill run?