Forward Motion...Keep Going

Progress and consistency always overshadow attempts at perfection. Why? It’s because showing up for yourself, in physical, mental, and emotional ways, produce lasting change with compounded growth whereas striving for something unachievable produces self-judgement and often internalized negative self-talk.

It’s important not to override your nervous system and any messages related to safety that you are getting, but also to work with those to determine if they actually meet the criteria for keeping you safe. Most often, we are looking for the out, putting others first or trying to seek motivation to keep us going. And that last one, is so brain specific it may only be something that shows up for you when there is a bigger currency or reward, driver toward a sense of safety that puts you into a sympathetic nervous system state (think fight, flight, freeze, fawn), special interest, or hyperfixation on board.

Movement forward, therefore, will not always feel perfect. It may show up in these ways:

• Picking up something heavy, like strength training…even if the weight is less than last week and you are not even close to a PR.

• Moving…even if it’s slower or the time spent is shorter, whether its around the block or on the treadmill.

• Writing thoughts down…even if they don’t make sense and you feel really stuck, like a brain dump style rather than a full journal session with a cup of tea.

All of these matter, and compound over time in ways you won’t notice every day. Bottom line…keep going…because going isn’t ever being perfect, it’s just forward motion.