New year…same old you. Let’s be honest here, you can keep your motivational materials and save the hyper romantic, artificial grit, routine. I shy away from calling it complete BS because there is some use for it, but it typically just doesn’t contain the firepower needed to kick your engine into gear after the 6-12-week honeymoon of whatever program you choose. Especially as we get older and more rooted in routine or lifestyle, making those changes requires more and more willful and purposeful action and far less cheerleading. This will take a departure from the typical resolution blog and head down a more pragmatic path. A quick challenge of paradigm of what that burdensome “commitment” that so many of us start in January actually saddles you with.
Chances are, you already know what the first couple months of a new routine entails. Many you know what the next 6-8 months of a program consists of. If you’ve tried and failed and repeated the cycle without making any real progress over the course of a year, it may seem like this whole exercise and health thing is just one long snipe hunt. All I can offer you is what I’ve found to be two of the greatest benefits of a long-term fitness commitment. Take these to heart and think about how I describe these situations against how you might think of them now. They’re simple to lay out there, but let them sink in and think of how it could change your outlook.
First off, you can build physical equity. There is a difference between the ‘fit’ person eating like a maniac for a few days a month or year compared to the ‘unfit’ person doing the same. Strict calorie counting aside here, we’re just talking about the relative impact that the decisions carry. That ‘fit’ person can absorb the damage done by missing a handful of workouts and eating with reckless abandon for some of the holiday stretch. They have greatly increased their margin of error and ability to remain strong and highly effective, while eating a few donuts. A short burst of questionable meal choices and lazy days doesn’t carry them further down the spiral of decay. It may actually have the opposite effect of rejuvenating and reaffirming the healthy lifestyle they’ve chosen. Let’s be honest, food hangovers are a real thing.
Second, by committing to a program long term, you have the safety blanket of knowing that within a few days, you’ll be back at it. There is always light at the end of the holiday pie tunnel. I don’t want to encourage the short-term thinking of ‘I can eat like a maniac cause I’ll burn it off tomorrow’, but take a larger scope at the situation. Over the course of the following couple months, the handful of binge days and slow days will be absorbed and nullified by the work that will be done. Especially when we have that healthy, long-term commitment, those few days just get figured in and really lose their impact overall. There isn’t any more dreading how many calories you’ll be stuffing in or blaming the holidays for those extra pounds. Questionable food decisions change to a quick stumble and catch instead of a cartwheel trip and fall down twenty flights of stairs while carrying grandma’s fine china collection, surrounded by strangers with their cell phones out.
Commitment to a healthy lifestyle offers you insulation, in exchange for the other naturally occurring insulation. It sets you up for success on both sides of any decision, good or bad. It gives you the opportunity to have a good time, knowing that you’ve done the work to enjoy it, and will continue to do the work so that each decision isn’t made on the razors edge. Give yourself the ability to enjoy the things that are supposed to be enjoyed.