New Year at the Gym
On January 3rd, the YMCA I attend was packed by 6am.
Normally we have 20 people in the main exercise room at the YMCA at 6am. Today we had people waiting for machines. We had a lot of new faces and some old ones that have been absent for months or longer.
Those of us who have been going early in the morning for years chuckle. We know that within a month, two at most, we'll be back to the normal small crowd. With luck, one or two of the new people will stick it out. The others drift away.
It takes 30 days to make a new habit. Getting to the YMCA by 6am to exercise is a challenging habit. Yet, for those of us who have been doing it for years, it's automatic, it's fun, and it expands our lives, we live longer, healthier, and with more energy.
Exercising isn't the only big New Year's Resolution. Dieting is another. Today at our Wednesday lunch group, three people talked about their diet. Yes, I was one of them. Yes, we all need it. Yes, it won't be easy for any of us. However, if it means enough to us, if the 'why' is big enough, we can do it.
A young father who smoked saw his first child and quit smoking. The child was the 'why'. He knew he wanted to live to enjoy that child for many years to come. Quitting smoking was the most important thing he could do to reach the goal. For him, quitting was easy. He need only look at his child.
OK, we all do it. We all make commitments, and we all fail at some of them. The 'why' was not strong enough, motivating enough. Thinking it would be a good idea and saying 'I'll try' is a path to failure. Saying, "I'll do it. I'll do it because...... I want to live a long life, enjoy and see my children married, and grandchildren grow up". To accomplish the fact it's not 'trying' it's 'I will', a positive statement of fact. It's conviction.
You can tell, as well as can others, if you will be successful or not by the way you talk about and approach a goal. Positive statements with a strong 'why' are the best indicators of success.
OK, you failed, you stopped going to the YMCA, you gave up on the diet. OK, fine. Accept it, find out why you stopped. Then start again, start those that have a strong enough 'why' that it's worth it to you to do it. If the 'why' is not strong enough then let it go until it is.
Some things we know we should do, but we are not ready. If we are not ready, right or wrong, we are not going to accomplish it. We are not going to make the needed effort.
It's February and the YMCA now has plenty of free machines. The mad rush is over. Now, it's mostly the regulars.
