Don't Give Up

Confession time.

In my past life (that is how I refer to my life before my weight loss) I gave up pretty easily. Not just with dieting and exercising, with everything. The earliest memory I have of "giving up" is math. In first grade, I decided that math was too hard, and that I would never understand it. From that point on, I gave up. I had it in my head that I could NOT do math and even though I went to tutoring, I still barely passed every math test I took. In High School I took the "easy" math classes, squeezed my way through geometry, was placed in a class with mostly juniors when I was a senior.

That's just one example. I have many more.

I am certainly not proud of being a person that gives up easily. Excuse me, let me rephrase that. I am not proud of being a person that DID give up easily.

My kickboxing teacher told me "Some people only do things they are good at. Other people do things they aren't good at, and keep practicing to get better. You have to choose which person you want to be". That really has stuck with me, and I keep it in mind when I try new workouts, new recipes, new routines.

I was thinking about this as I was on a bike ride last night. I only recently began to ride my bike again. The hills are hard for me, and I have to literally say "push" out loud the entire time up the hill. As I was pushing yesterday, I thought how easy it would be to give up, to decide that biking is just too hard and that I wasn't going to pull the bike out of the garage again. But I can't do that. I must keep persisting, keep getting better.

I don't want to be a person that gives up so easily anymore. Giving up is only giving IN to my self doubt. And there is no way I am letting that self doubt have so much control over my actions.

There are going to be times where you want to give up. There are going to be times where you won't even want to begin something, because you fear it's too hard or that you won't be able to do it. Why let that stop you? Why not try and see where the challenge can take you? It might be scary at times, but the dear should fuel you, not stop you. Surprise yourself. Surprise those around you. Surprise the routine. Dare to do something different. Dare to keep going when you want to give up.