Hey happy Tuesday! I am sitting in the airport, waiting for my flight home from the SHiNE Dance Fitness retreat. It was so much fun to dance with more than 50 other ladies who love it as much as I do!
We just got notice that our flight is delayed, so I opened up my computer to catch up on some writing, and this memory was brought to my attention. I thought it was perfect to share in this week’s newsletter!
“My thoughts for today began this morning when I woke up to my alarm. I had set it a little early so that I could have time to SHiNE™️, which is a dance fitness exercise that my body and I LOVE to do. It wakes me up, and it helps me get into a great mood every day. I had been traveling all week, stayed in a small hotel room with other people, so I hadn’t really exercised at all–besides walking from place to place–and I felt extremely behind schedule. When the alarm went off this morning, I did NOT feel like being active AT ALL. I didn’t wake up to my alarm yesterday, to be honest, and body felt it all day long. So this morning when my mind tried to tell me “I don’t feel like it,” I told it to be quiet and I got up and danced! It only took the warm up song for my body to feel happy and singing! I did have to breathe a little harder than usual (consequence of taking a week off,) but in the end, it was a SHiNE-ing moment!”
Action often needs to come first in order to create the feeling we want.
It’s easy to sit back and say, “I’ll do it when I feel like it” or “I will do it tomorrow.” Don’t get me wrong, sometimes those feelings are valid. Sometimes we need to listen to our bodies when they send the message to rest; sometimes it is healthy for us to take a day off to relax or to do something more urgent that can’t wait until tomorrow. However, I believe that most of the time– especially when it’s a repeated pattern– “I don’t feel like it” is just a message from our faulty belief system trying to hold us back.
I didn’t think taking just one week off from working out would get me to the point where I wouldn’t feel like doing it, but sure enough, the longer I waited to feel like doing it, the harder it was to do it.
This was a great reminder for me: When I want something, such as to feel healthy or confident or physically fit, I can create the feeling by getting up and moving my body–even when it’s hard, and even if I don’t feel like it.
I could put off my entire life waiting for a feeling– courage, energy, enthusiasm, desire–when what I really need to do is to START! And THEN I’ll feel like it!
It’s a hard concept to get sometimes, and it can be a really hard habit to develop because…well.. if I don’t feel like it, why would I do it?
The answer is simple, really. Not doing the things I want to do is also hard. It’s just a matter of choosing my hard.
What do you wish you felt like doing today?
I challenge you to DO IT! Once you do, send me a message. I’d love to hear about your experience!
