It’s Okay To Go Slowww…

I went hiking for the first time in about a month. It was glorious! Being on the trail is like air to me. Too long away from it and I feel like I’m suffocating.

As I began climbing the mountain, I felt a difference in my body. I set out to meet the trail in the same way I do when I’m taking it 3-4 days a week. Of course, the body said NO to that. I realized that I may have to slow down, maybe stop a few times to catch my breath or allow the body small intermissions. Well, I still killed it and had a great hike…but only after I told myself, “It’s okay to go slow.”

Gawd, what a great reminder! This is so true when starting to exercise after maybe taking a break… but it’s also essential to the practice of LIFE.

For instance, how are you doing with your New Year resolutions? It’s the beginning of March now. Are you still holding your intentions closely? Are you continuing to work toward your goals? Did you give up on those weeks ago? Are you asking, “What resolutions…?”. Are you flipping me off right now? LOL!!! By the way, IF you dropped the ball, you are in plentiful company! On average, New Year resolutions have an 80-91% fail rate, depending on which research psychologist you consult.

One reason why people don’t follow through on goals they set for themselves is that they make the process too daunting. We want things yesterday! We go from zero to 100 and then burn out quickly and give up. We place HUGE demands on ourselves right out of the gate, and then throw heaps of impatience on top. After all this, we throw up our hands then beat ourselves up when we “fail”. Sound familiar?

So how DO you set a goal and actually follow through on it? You. Slow. It. Down.

Look at the course between where you are and where you want to be. Then chunk that shit down into the smallest manageable parts. Draw or write a road map. Start at the desired destination and work backwards. What would be the very last thing you do before you finally reach it? What would you do JUST before THAT? Before THAT? Before that…? You get the picture here.

Trace your steps back to where you are right now. Again, make the movements small. If you give yourself a task that feels too big and intimidating, you won’t do it. You just won’t. By contrast, if you allow yourself little tiny motions in the direction of your target, you will feel more empowered and in no time you will find yourself making solid progress.

You wouldn’t approach a mountain and try to launch yourself to the top in one fell swoop. You would gaze at the peak, study the terrain leading to it, and proceed with one step, then another step, while breathing. Sure, you might quicken your pace in some places, and that’s perfectly okay. Yet the real work is in those minuscule baby steps. This is how mountains are conquered, and it is how big dreams and objectives are finally realized.

If you’ve been struggling to see your intentions fulfilled, stop and remind yourself that it’s okay to go slow.