Is it failure or is it just our prerogative to change our mind?

One of the goals I have set for myself is to get to the gym to ride the recumbent bike.  No impact, great music on my iPhone, and a killer workout especially if I choose the hills!  But let me start a little in the past....get you caught up on the voices in my head.

I have been taught that it is all or nothing.  Let me say that again......ALL OR NOTHING.  Somehow that does not seem fair.  I am learning that the old attitude of ALL OR NOTHING (aka Perfection) is overrated.  I used to plan to get to the gym on Monday and Wednesday.  Tuesday/Thursday and sometimes Friday was for Jazzercise ........and the weekends were up in the air.  I would play those days by ear.  It was a plan, it was structure.....and in my little world, it was cast in stone.  If I did not meet the schedule I FAILED.  I hate failing......ANYTHING.  I was programmed to be the perfect first born......get good grades, go to the schools I wanted to (to some extent), work hard...that is life.

In the last year, with some help from a friend I met through an online movement program, I have deprogrammed myself of perfection.....well, I am maybe 85% there.  Now, I have a plan; the plan is a living thing that reminds me that THINGS happen to monkey with the schedule.....and that is ok.  It gives me the opportunity to think outside the box AND CHOOSE to try something in place of the schedule.  Really....it erases the failure.  I get to choose; I get to redirect; I get a 're-do' button and it makes me happy.

This past week, Chiberia (aka the Chicagoland area) took away my scheduled appointment with the gym.  It was -14*F with a windchill of -50*F.  That is some kind of cold!  Most places closed.......especially if you did NOT have to be there.  At 5am, I did not HAVE to be at the gym.  It is a choice and it was changed for me.  For the first time in a long time, I took the change as an opportunity to try some strength training.  I did 50 squats and 50 push-ups (my toes were not cooperating so I did some on my knees and others against the wall) BUT I still got some movement.  I did go to work so I had the chance to do laps around the lab.  I had choices and opportunities to do something different and I grabbed it just like I grabbed the gold ring on the carousel growing up.  The 'dobbie horses' or the carousel was always my favorite ride.....it made me smile.

This week, trying different things when getting to the gym was not an option, put a smile on my face.  Seeing my fitbit read that I was putting 4,000+ steps out there (fitbit is a type of pedometer).  Since my foot surgery 18 months or so ago I have not been getting that far.  I STEPPED IT UP.....(pun intended) and I am ok with it.  As a matter of fact I am ecstatic!  I did not allow my injury dictate what I could do.

That is progress!  That is what this new year is about.......trying different avenues when I find a roadblock, trying the different fork in the road......it is about NOT doing the same thing expecting different results.

Yay me!

Shoot for the moon.....and even if I fail I still land among the stars!