How To Get Back On Track
With your life, fitness, wellness, career, & more!
We have all been there. A sickness that leaves us bedridden, an injury, a vacation, or just simple life plateau - we have fallen off of our grind and have stopped seeing the results we know we want to achieve. This can be in life, in your fitness journey, in your wellness goals, or in your career path. We all have experienced and will experience times in our lives - both good and bad - that set us off course.
When we realize that we have fallen off of our typical schedule, or if we are trying to start anew, we need to lay out our goals. If you are trying to get back in shape, set measurable, achievable goals, that can be broken up into smaller steps. Let's say you were sick, or had an injury, and you fell out of shape, or you are wanting to get in shape for the first time (in a long time) in your life. Now, make a goal, like "I want to be able to run a half marathon", or "I want to lose 20 pounds of fat". Now, take steps back to see how you can achieve those goals. You create a running plan that maybe starts at running 1 or 2 miles every other day, incorporated with some HIIT workouts or weight lifting, and you slowly build yourself up in mileage. Or if you are looking to lose weight (in fat, not just overall), then you will maybe look at your diet, and slowly start to cut out excess amounts of fats, sugars, and carbs, and additionally begin to incorporate a consistent workout routine.
If you feel like you aren't on the path of life you originally thought you would be on, then take some time to re-evaluate what you want in life. See if what you are doing right now is going to take you in the direction of your life goals, whether that be working in a certain career, achieving a life milestone, or starting a family. If the things you are doing right now won't transpire into the goals you set for yourself, then you need to work backward and see what you can do to achieve the goals you actually want to live out. If you want to start your own business, but you can't financially afford to take the risk and/or don't want to lose the safety of your current job, then maybe you start to set aside your evening movie watching and push your workout session to the morning so that you can begin your business as a side hustle, until it can become your main focus.
Changing our lives and living our best lives takes work. No great life comes without great sacrifice, and that doesn't mean there will be painful hardships all the time but there will be real challenges that make us question if our goals are worth it. I hope that you find your goals are worth the waiting, the work, the effort, and the diligence. I hope you find that consistency is key, and you have the power to transform your life into whatever you want it to be. Because in order for you to get back on track you need to do one thing:
Commit to your goals. You will succeed if you decide that failure is not an option and that living your best life is the greatest achievement of all.
Typing next to Sion Dana, the sculptor of Steampunk Curiosities. - Joseph Aubrey Wiggins
This Dorothy, a 1955 Smith-Corona Skyriter - Brent Mitchell Wiggins
Thank you for the typewriter, Sion! It works like a charm. - Virginia Silberstein
5 Respectful And Empowering Ways To Handle Rejection
Not everyone will like you, but not everyone has to.
You work hard, you do the right thing, and the inevitable happens. Someone comes along and begins to give you a backhanded compliment, or if you have the misfortune, a backhanded comment. You are left with a bad taste in your mouth and your day starts to turn sour. When people belittle you and your efforts, here are five respectful and empowering ways to sweeten those moments of rejection.
1. Never give someone a reason to not like you.
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People will say what they want and think what they want, no matter the subject or person of choice. It will not matter who you are or what you do, someone or another manages to pay you their two cents. You have to remember, you did not give them reasons to justify their words or actions towards you. These people who exhibit unwarranted thoughts about you are just another drop in the ocean. They do not define your good intentions or self-worth. They are not for you and you need not place any investigation or worry into the mystery of why they do not like you. You do not have to reason with them any further. Simply look forward to the people who care to be curious and open-minded about you.
2. Kill them with kindness.
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The dead push up daisies, but you plant the seed. Some people will smile proudly knowing they have said something cruel or disheartening to get a rise out of you but look at this as an opportunity. Every moment is a chance for you to choose how you react. Ten percent of life is what happens to you, it is out of your control. Ninety percent of life is what you do about it. Use your words to encourage, not discourage, civil discourse. Say what matters and say it with an honest purpose. State your case and let them respond how they will; you cannot control others, but you can control yourself. Be a good example others have yet to show themselves.
3. Turn the "No's" into a "Yes."
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The poet Sylvia Plath had this to say about rejection: "I love my rejection slips. They show me I try." She was talking about the process of writing literary submissions for publication, but her attitude still stands. This is the mindset it takes to find the success you want out of life. Despite all the people that deny you and your work, there are people that see potential and promise in you. It does not matter how many people say "No" to you. What does matter is the number of times you can get back to work and look forward to that one "Yes." You are working for the "Yes's" in your life. Forget the dream-killers and eye-rollers, they lack the hope and drive you have in what you do. They do not do what you do and do not do it like you do. For every "No" there is a "Yes."
4. Let your work speak for you.
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Sometimes no matter how endearing your elevator pitch sounds or how carefully crafted your resume is, people still find fault where there might not even be any. Your accomplishments are your own and that is something to take pride in. Of course, the right amount of pride separates you from the rest and for the better. Pride and confidence must not become virtues or vices that exceed who you are. The work you put out is an extension of who you are and no one can take that away from you. Work speaks for itself and yourself best, so focus on your goals and let your results stand in for your words people did not value. Your best is rarely seen at the moment of inspiration, usually after the final stroke of the brush has wet the canvas. It is your goal to show that stalwart work ethic in good times and in bad.
5. Your process will protect you.
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Keep working. Rule out the distractions and the doubts, the fears, and the flippant fools. Know that your process will save you in trying times. Work against all odds. At some point, things turn even and add up, but you have to be dedicated and diligent. Your sights are seen only through your eyes and your need is to show others what you see. Until then, your skill, your talent, will be honed with consistency. Show up to your work even when you have not been hit with inspiration. The Kodak moment will present itself through your process. Due diligence is the price of success. Eyes on the prize and nose to the grindstone. No one knows your work better than you.
Be the trampoline that bends the will of gravity-like rejection long enough until you can fly.