The Secret To Breaking The Start & Stop Cycle

I know I say this a lot, but time really does fly. It’s already mid July. It’s a new month, and new season, SUMMER. We are officially in the second half of the year. Not only is it a new season physically, by it being summer, but it’s also a new season for me, personally. It has been ages since you’ve heard from me, I haven’t shared a new post since May. I took some unplanned time off, to step back and figure some things out. I get bursts of creativity, and then plummet into a period of being uninspired. During this period, I allow my feelings to dictate my discipline, when they shouldn’t. My problem is, once I break my streak of consistency, I fall into a downward spiral. One day will turn into seven, which will turn into weeks, and sometimes lead to months of nothing. Don’t get me wrong, there are other factors that go into my disappearance from my business, such as work picking up, traveling, more, and even just laziness. Sometimes, I make excuses for my bad habits which lead me to continue making the same mistakes. Let’s compare it to someone who is just getting into fitness: 

Let’s say a person starts going to the gym, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They go two weeks strong. Then, they miss a Monday workout in the third week. Rather than picking back up on Wednesday, they fall off completely and skip a full week. When week four rolls around, they are less likely to pick back up the stamina they had in week two. They continue to spiral and miss a month of the gym. When they go to put on their favorite pair of jeans on, they learn that they don’t fit. So they start the cycle back over again.

This is the same pattern I’ve been in for about a year and a half now, not just with fitness, but with every area of my life. I start and stop so much when it comes to the things that I say I want, including my fitness, my business, and even my savings journey. I’m truly a routine person, who thrives with routines, but once my routine is broken, I find it hard to adjust and get back on track. I am very self-aware, and always trying to grow and evolve. I brought this up in therapy one time and she challenged me by asking me if I lacked commitment. I thought the reason, for my lack of consistency was due to me lacking focus. My therapist shared that it might not be lack of focus, I just may be focusing on the wrong thing. When she broke it down, she shared that I was focusing on the outcome, rather than the process. By focusing on the process, it helps me to develop a plan and habits to get me to the outcome. This all means if I don’t have a clear why, I will continue to start and stop everything. After our conversation, I sat in journal about the life I want, and some of the sacrifices that I’m willing to get there. This was back in June, but yeah, it was still hard for me to get back on track. I had to let go of the guilt associated with everything I had let go of. I took some time to look back at the goals and plans that I set for the top of the year, and honestly, I became discouraged. Looking at all the things I allowed to fall to the wayside, left me paralyzed from moving forward. I was so ready to throw the whole year away, because I felt like I wasted the entire first half. I’m so thankful that I was able to give myself grace, because we all dropped the ball. Life is ebbs and flows, highs and lows, and if I allow every low to stop me completely, I will never accomplish anything. I’m human, so sometimes I allow my feelings to dictate how I operate. The truth is, feelings are not faxed, and allow yourself to feel the fields, but I understand that feelings change. Do not allow your feelings to keep you stuck in the same place. Whether you feel like it or not, it’s time to come back.

I say all this to say, if you are like me, and started the year off with huge goals and plans, but got lost or slow down along the way, it’s time to pick it back up. Do not get hung up on all that you didn’t do. We still have the second half of this year to come back. We are in the second half, third quarter, get back in the game. I can give you thousands of examples of where sports teams have came back in the second half and won the game. It does not matter how many people counted you out, even if you counted yourself out, you can still come back and make 2023 an incredible year. Take some time to look at the goals you set for this year. Assess those goals, and if there are still things you want to accomplish, rewrite them and come up with a new plan. If there’s goals that you no longer want, scratch them out. If you never set any goals for 2023, now is the time to do so. We are only three weeks into the summer, it’s time to get activated. remember those dreams and goals you want wanted, it’s time to go after them. Stop procrastinating, stop with the blame game, stop making excuses. We are going after the life we always wanted. Let’s go sis!