Taking a Day Off

Maybe it was the fact it was my one month anniversary, and I felt I deserved a reward. Maybe it was the rain or simply that I felt a little off yesterday, but I gave into the red-horned sloth and took the day off from the gym. Because there were still five days left in the week to fit in my four days of work-outs, I  knew realistically this should be OK, but despite knowing this, I still ended up feeling guilty about my choice.

Typically I've tried to make it a practice to work out every day that I am able to in the beginning of the week, so if an unexpected event occurs, it doesn't derail my goals for the week. In this case I wasn't sticking to that philosophy. It may have been anxiety from worrying that something unexpected would happen later in the week, or perhaps it was simply knowing in my heart that I didn't have a great excuse for not going, but as the evening wore on, I realized I was not enjoying the time off as much as I had expected. I was too busy feeling bad that I had not pushed myself to go, and I did not like feeling this way. It was an all too familiar feeling from my past when I lived with the guilt because I was continually sabotaging my fitness efforts.

Somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00 PM, I realized I had to let this feeling go. I wasn't that girl anymore. I was committed to a lifestyle change and all of my actions were supporting that. Taking a night off, even though it was in the beginning of the week, was OK. I would make my goal this week, because I knew that if push came to shove later this week, I would push myself through any unexpected event to meet it. I had already proven that I could. I might scold myself for having put myself in that position, but I would still get it done. It was OK to take a day off.

Charlie supporting St Baldrick's Day 2010

One last quick note, I've added a new link to my favorite links. Charlie my daughter is participating in St Baldrick's Day in support of the St Baldrick's Foundation which is an organization dedicated to raising funds for Children's Cancer research. Please take a peak at her fundraising page.