So it occurred to me a little bit ago that life is too short to do the things I don't want to do. From now on I will only do the things I want to do.
That can be a misleading statement. It doesn't mean I am going to sit on my couch and eat ice cream all day. While we all might joke about things like that being what we want, it's not really what any of us want. What we really want is the outcome of our actions.
Sometimes the things we want to do can get confused with things we don't want to do simply because they are hard. Let me explain a little better.
When I am pushing myself through a workout and it's hard and that thought comes into my head, " I don't want to do this. It's hard." I have to stop and ask myself this question: "Then WHY are you doing it?"
I usually have some pretty good answers for why:
- I want to be healthy.
- I want to be able to play/hike/run/bike with my kids and husband.
- I want to be and stay fully functional as I age.
- I want to look good.
- I want to feel good.
- I want to enjoy my body, not hate it.
- I want to appreciate what I've got and do my best to improve on it.
- Etc., etc., etc.
When I start thinking about all the reasons why I actually do want to do it I approach my workout with a completely different feeling and mentality.
Likewise, it has been good for me to ask this question in a lot of areas because there really are things I don't want to do and I have eliminated them.
As you go through your workouts and your life if you find yourself dreading something, or just simply not wanting to do it, ask yourself: "Why am I doing this?" If you have good reasons then focus on those and do it. If you don't have any good reasons, drop it out of your life.
As we do the things we want, and recognize that's what we're doing, our life will be happier and better all around.
Know what you want, then...
Do what you want.
