Ever put something off?
Until the last minute?
Or well, just keep putting it off?
Every single one of us is guilty of putting things off. Paying bills, doing our taxes, cleaning up the spare room, mowing the lawn. All of those things.
The thing with those though is they will still be there, and there are timelines or deadlines that need to be met. Bills and taxes have penalties for being late, relatives are coming for Christmas so you need the yard tidy and the room ready for them!
But what about your health and fitness? There doesn’t seem to be a date or a deadline.
So we just think, tomorrow, Monday, yeah I will start Monday.
Then Monday rolls around, you slept poorly to say the least. So you think, ah tomorrow.
Then you think, oh I have to do that thing after work on Tuesdays, can’t start then.
Wednesday then! Oh yeah, I need to cook dinner Wednsday night, couldn’t possibly start then.
No one starts on a Thursday, that’s silly. And Friday, well I head out for a drink after work so it is definitely out!
Next Monday! Or actually, um when I get all this work stuff sorted, yeah, when that settles down. When I can manage the kids’ stuff too. Yeah, once the touch footy season is over yeah, that is it. Then once the netball season is done.
Does this sound at all familiar?
I have heard more times than I care to think about how someone will start ‘once I sort my things out with life’.
Almost everyone that says that still hasn’t started.
The people that have said, now is the time. It is far from perfect, but I need to look after my health and well-being now! Before it actually has a deadline put on it! Those people are here, most days of the week, doing something to help look after themselves.
I am going to use a bit of an analogy to convey what I am getting at here.
If we look at your life like a family car you will see there are so many moving parts to it. The engine, wheels, suspension, instruments, gear box, etc. In your life there is work, family, social, home life, maintenance, paying bills, doing budgets etc.
And you, you are the driver of that car. Now if you neglect the driver, ie lack of sleep, lack of nutrition, training, rest, etc well then accidents happen, and if you as the driver are struggling, then the car doesn’t get maintained either, and the wheels fall off!
If you keep putting off looking after you, pretty soon the car will be off the road.
There is a cliche that says you can’t pour from an empty cup. It rings true here.
If you are not moving well, and regularly, not eating to fuel yourself well, sleeping like shit, and doing nothing to help your mental space, sooner or later you and your car will be off the road together.
But back to putting things off.
Think back to a time where you thought, hmm I will do X or Y once all my ducks are in a row. It doesn’t have to be joining CrossFit Armidale, it might be a hobby, playing an instrument, reading that book you have had on the shelf for five years, putting the shelf up to put the book on!
And you never got all the ducks in a row, and so you never started.
It is simply because we never have our ducks in a row, we never have it all together to put something else into the mix.
There are times where we just have to say to ourselves, now is the time.
The past is gone, but we can learn from it.
The future hasn’t happened yet, but we might be able to do something to make it better when it does come.
The present is where we can make it happen.
Because the only time you really have, is now.