I thought I knew what I wanted to share this month. But after I was halfway through writing the article it just didn’t feel right. So I started again with a different topic. I got a third the way through and stopped. It still wasn’t the right thing to share.
I like to get outside for a bit every morning by myself, before the kids wake up and before the business of the day takes over. Most of the time I do not have music on. I like to be alone with my thoughts and let them come and go through my mind as I’m walking or running. I’ve found it to be very therapeutic. It helps me to work through stuff. Sometimes I think about the mechanics of the human body as I’m moving and a lot of times I come up with topics to share on this platform.
A topic that keeps coming to my mind for several weeks now is what I have decided to share with you today.
Three Fourths the way there!
It is September! We are three fourths the way through this year! I don’t know about you but this year has felt super busy! I personally moved at the start of summer just in time to unpack, meet a few neighbors and do all the summer things with my family. Now the school year has started and life doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
Even though we are three fourths the way through the year, do not stop, or slow down in your pursuit of your goals. Swim through the wall!
It made me reflect on where I am at with my New Years’ goals that I set at the beginning of the year. How close or far am I from reaching those goals? Do I still have time to work on them and achieve them? Have you forgotten all about your New Year’s goals?
I come from a large family of 10 kids, 5 boys and 5 girls. One of my younger brothers, Jake, was much more energetic than the others. My mom used to have him run laps around our house to “tire” him out. Eventually, my parents decided to put my brother in swimming lessons, which quickly turned into joining the swim team at the young age of 8.
Jake was fast and he was good. In fact, he went on to compete in the 2016 summer Olympic Trials! But swimming is not just about winning the race against your competitors. It’s also a race against yourself. Every time Jake swam he was trying to beat his best time for that distance and swim stroke.
Swim Through The Wall
In swimming you have what’s called a flip turn. As the swimmer approaches the wall in order to keep momentum and as they change directions the swimmer does a flip in the water inches away from the wall, and then uses the wall to push off as they change directions. If you slow down as you approach the wall you lose a lot of your momentum and in swimming even milliseconds matter! My Mom started to tell Jake he needed to “swim through the wall”. To not glide or slow down as he approached the wall but to swim through it!
Even though we are three fourths the way through the year, do not stop, or slow down in your pursuit of your goals. Swim through the wall! Maybe you have lost your momentum. That’s ok. There is still lots of time to pick back up where you left off and continue on. You can still make a lot of improvements in the four months we have left of this year.
Personal Best
New Years’ goals are for self improvement. Just like in swimming, if you can beat your previous personal best, even by a millisecond, you are better than you were before! That’s the whole point of the goal, to become better than you were before.
Just like in swimming, if you can beat your previous personal best, even by a millisecond, you are better than you were before! That’s the whole point of the goal, to become better than you were before.
In fitness, you should regularly, as in monthly, reevaluate your goals. You want to see if you are on track, what’s working, what’s not and making adjustments to set yourself up for success! Take some time this week to revisit those goals you set at the beginning of the year.
Time Is Of The Essence!
There are about 17 weeks left until the end of the year. You could lose 1 pound a week starting now and lose 17 pounds. If you lost 2 pounds a week you could lose 34 pounds by the end of the year. There is still enough time to chip away at those goals. There is still time to learn new skills and develop new habits. They say it takes 21 days to make something a habit. As of the date of this article there are 111 days left until the end of the year. If you picked 1 habit a month to work on, you could easily form 3 new habits by the end of the year that will improve your health.
Finish this year out strong working towards those goals. It’s ok to change direction with your goals, but use the momentum that you started with to help push you forward in a new direction. As long as you are just a tiny bit better than you were before, then you are winning!
Remember, don’t slow down, don’t glide. Keep that momentum and swim through the wall!
For more inspiration and fitness tips, follow me on Instagram @taylorkati2018.
