Celebrating Successes, Embracing Failures
So this week I reset my intention and commitment to move my body every day. As a form of nourishment I set out to feed myself movement daily in some form or another beyond simply walking to and from the subway. I started out strong, 40 minutes on the elliptical on Friday, and especially proud for getting in an hour long walk on Saturday, in the rain, even after an intensive day-long seminar. Then Sunday and Monday rolled around and it just didn't happen. I didn't do it. 2 jam packed days of learning and good work, but no movement. I thought about the promise I'd made and how I wanted to relate to the whole thing.
The experience made me think about 2 essential pieces in the process of personal growth and lifestyle change. The first has to do with celebrating our successes. I felt proud of myself for pushing past some tiredness to keep my word and move on Saturday. It felt empowering and powerful to get myself moving even when some very reasonable excuses might have made a good case for why not to bother. It WAS raining. It HAD been a really long day, and I didn't let that get in my way. Experiences like these are totally worthy of celebration. Success!
What about the "failures"? I had set a goal, I made a commitment, and I broke my word. By embracing my "failure" compassionately without making excuses about it I could look at what happened and really learn something. In this case, I learned that I really need to plan ahead if I want to move my body on certain days. By not blaming circumstances and not feeling badly about it I come out a winner. I retain my commitment and integrity, I feel good about myself, and I get to learn how to better create the life I want. We all get to! Yesterday I rode my bike and did the elliptical, and today I enjoyed a great yoga class. Tomorrow it's another bike ride...What do you know about celebrating your successes? How are you with embracing failure?
