On our quest of moving toward health, there will be many times when we aren’t quite sure what exactly we would like to be moving toward. This can make it challenging to figure out what our next steps should be. I’ve encountered this situation many times in my life and not knowing what we want can often lead us to feeling stuck for long periods. Although I’ve found the process of moving toward what we desire to be a very powerful motivator, especially when we don’t feel like taking the daily action necessary to succeed, it can become hindering when we aren’t clear on what we want. 

In these moments of uncertainty, it can be very helpful to instead get clear on what we would like to move away from.

I was a three-sport athlete in high school and was always at practice or a game for one of them. When I got to college, I didn’t have the same consistency and structure to my physical activity as I was only playing club soccer the first semester I was there. This led me to feeling like a stranger in my own body. I was sluggish, unhappy with how my body looked, and was not feeling confident. I wasn’t quite sure what exactly I’d like my new life to look like, but I knew I didn’t want to feel the way I was feeling anymore. 

Getting clear on what I did not want helped me come up with a plan of action to move away from these feelings, even though I wasn’t one hundred percent sure of what I wanted to be moving toward. 

Moving away from my sedentary lifestyle in my first semester of college was a challenging task I’d find would take a lot of trial and error to overcome. At first, I started going to the gym with my roommate and completing random workouts I could remember from high school or ones we found on Pinterest. 

Although it felt better to move my body, I still wasn’t happy with this process. The workouts I was doing didn’t make me feel strong and there was no end goal attached to them, so it felt pointless. Although this first plan of action didn’t stick, it got me started and I wouldn’t have been able to get started if I didn’t know what I didn’t want. 

The next semester we decided to start the program Insanity. We had both been wanting to try this program and there were a few added benefits to doing this rather than going to the gym: we could do it in the lounge next to our dorm room before class and there was a structured calendar to follow. By committing to Insanity, we were able to move away from the chaos that came along with trying to figure out what to do in the gym every day. 

Completing this program helped me find myself again and gave me the foundation necessary to begin to remember what it is I want when it comes to my health and physical fitness. This reminder allowed me to begin to form a picture of what I’d like to move toward when it came to my health. 

The vision of what we are moving toward is constantly changing as our life circumstances change. This means the process of moving toward health will also be constantly changing. 

We can’t expect smooth sailing from the first moment we get clear on what we want through the rest of our lives. Changes will always need to be made as we hit patches of newness and uncertainty. 

Moving toward a healthy lifestyle is the key to winning the long game, and moving away from what we don’t want is a tool to help us overcome the newest obstacle in our way. Learning how to pair these together makes us unstoppable.

Xoxo

Coach Maggi