Embrace The Almost

 Hello Fit Fam,

    Have you ever been stuck? Stuck in between the beginning and then end? Stuck somewhere after the start line but not quite to the finish line? 

    I have been reading an amazing book called Embrace Your Almost by Jordan Lee Dooley. This book for some reason is really hitting home for me. It talks about in our master plans in life and how we always seem to be working towards a goal or an end or some finish line and seem to get stuck in this place called the Almost. There is one particular chapter called Always Almost There, and I live in those words! 

    When you think about your life and the goals you set for yourself, do you feel you get stuck before finishing? As a fitness professional I find this to be a common theme for individuals trying to make a behavior change. They want to lose weight, eat healthier, get stronger, run faster, etc. It always starts the same with a goal, then comes the plan and then the execution. What normally trips people up is the execution somewhere between the beginning and the end or what I now like to call the "Almost". I can think of countless examples in my life when I was always almost there. I had the best intentions, and great plan but I just couldn't seem to get myself there. Something would trip me up. 

    I am finding myself in that almost there place right now. I am trying to get my online personal training business off the ground while being a full time stay at home parents. What is crazy to me is that I don't have a lot on my plate, other than keeping a one year old fed, hydrated, entertained, and basically alive. So I don't know why I am unable to make this dream of mine come true. I just need to promote and seek out new clients but I am hitting some unidentified walls. I have the skills and the time to make this work for my current lifestyle. I know I am capable of doing the work but I am afraid. 

    Afraid of what? I honestly don't know. I think that I am doubting myself and my abilities. I worry that people wont believe me. They wont think I am capable. I am worried that committing to this means that I could fail which would intern mean all the years I studied exercise science in school and all my certifications would be for nothing. My time and knowledge and credentials would all be garbage. But what is crazier, is when I look at the reasons why I don't believe I cannot do it I am basically already causing myself to fail by not even trying. 

    I am stuck in the Almost right now. Waiting for something to pull me out and the truth of the matter is I am what needs to pull me out. I imagine the Almost to look like a really big lake or better yet the ocean. I am floating around in it and looking left, then right then up and down and telling myself there is no way out I am just here...forever. No one is coming to rescue me and if I give up I am going to sink and eventually drown. Morbid, right? 

    Well the truth is I am a great swimmer, like I would argue well above average at swimming. I could swim for miles if I tried but I just cannot seem to muster up the courage to start swimming. Doesn't matter what direction I go they all lead to land...eventually. Some may take longer than others and some might be super quick I just have to start swimming. But instead I choose to keep treading water and exhausting my energy going no where. 

    So this is my reminder to myself and you the reader, whoever you might be. Maybe I know you. Maybe I don't. Maybe we haven't met yet but one day we will! Maybe you are an old friend I haven't seen in some time (Hi, I miss you!). I am speaking this into existence: START SWIMMING, or running, or moving or working, or driving, or painting, or learning, or growing, wherever it is that you are stuck. Just move! Pick the direction towards your end goal. You have the ability to get yourself there, you just have to believe it! And if you don't believe in your, then I do! Because we are all capable or swimming ourselves out of that big vast ocean to reach land (aka your goal). 

    I want nothing more to find success in my personal training venture but more importantly I want to find accomplishment for myself. Setting this goal is more to me than building a successful business, it it finding a way to share my knowledge and help others create a healthy lifestyle. I don't needs millions of dollars or hundreds of clients to prove that I am capable. I want one client to see the difference in their lives. I want to truly make a lasting impact on their health and wellbeing. I want them to make it out of the ocean onto land and feel that sense of accomplishment for themselves. 

    So in the words of Dory, "Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming" and eventually you will get out of the Almost and find you end goal, whatever it might me!

~ Stay Calm and Exercise On ~