Life Cycles

Our lives are a series of cycles and trying to brake one cycle to start another is often hard. Your mind and body have to be ready. I'm sure everyone has gone through periods where one activity seems to be easy and others you have to work at and they never seem easy.

We go through periods where we what to read and we can go through several books and even whole book series. While at other times we go through periods where we can't read more than a few pages before we are done. These cycles are normal and part of being human.

There will be periods where eating well and exercising will be easy and require almost no will power to do. Other times we just can't seem to get it together no matter how hard we try. So what is the secret? Who knows, these cycles are going to happen, the task is to make sure you take advantage of them when the good cycles come around.

I've been exercising for most of my adult life and eat pretty well, but there have been spells where I just couldn't get into it, these slug cycles have lasted from a few weeks to several years. Then all of a sudden I'm back at it and training again like I'd never stopped except that I've had to regain all my lost fitness, which varies by how long I laid off.

I've found that when the time comes to get back into a healthy routine it's easy to start and it stays easy for some time then as my mind and body starts getting in a mood for another cycle my challenge is to make the cycle I want interesting enough that my mind and body will go along with keeping the good cycle going.

Goals, wants and desires all help as do exciting activities. If your motivation level is starting to drop from just walking, running, biking or what ever you are currently doing, then spice it up. Dream a little and shoot for some excitement. Races are awesome for pumping up your mojo. So are body changing goals. You can have a quest for a slimmer waist or faster race times. I have found that a good goal is often a desired small change.

We are fortunate that we can pick races from a couple of miles to the ultra marathons and there are races of all distances almost every weekend somewhere close. If you have been doing only 5Ks then try a longer slower race, or if you have done nothing but half and full marathons try one of the shorter faster races.

Vacation trips with races are good ways to keep your motivation level up. Be determined that you are going to be ready and able to finish strong. Make a body goal to go along with it. If you usually have a desert at lunch take the money you would have spent for that desert and put it in a jar, ear mark it for new slimmer clothes for your vacation. A couple of bucks a day adds up.

When you have your healthy living cycle going treat it like a good marriage, like a marriage a good healthy cycle is worth the work to keep it going, both will suffer from neglect. Make a pact with yourself that you will put in the effort.

Thanks for reading.

Committed Panda