Summertime and the liv’n was easy. I caught up with family and friends, rode my bike, gardened and enjoyed the outdoors. After more than two years of Covid, these activities felt extra special. It was all wonderful and after a long stretch of diligence, my regular exercise routine had fallen by the wayside.
Now, with summer passed, it’s time to get back on track. September – the month when school begins again and autumn activities ramp up - is in many ways like a new year, so the timing was good for me to do this. Still, I had some hesitation. Normally, after a break of a week or so, this is easy enough to accomplish if I remind myself to just begin again without judgement, but after a few months the task seemed so much bigger.
Here is what I did. Earlier, I blogged about the wise advice Anna once gave me about starting small. I put that into play once again. I’ve learned that committing to a manageable schedule of commitments serves me better than a heroic plan that is doomed to fail. I also blogged about adopting the perspective of practice over perfection. Funny how that applies too. If I look at bumps along the way as part of the path to progress, I can be open to learning about what’s working for me, and what’s not.
To give myself the best shot at this, I decided to take steps in the direction I would like to go and not define my success as doing what I previously did. Instead, I’m letting go of expectations and a jam-packed agenda. I’ve started over, and I’m enjoying the process.