BARUCHealth - Don't be a quitter. Nutrition, Movement, Self-Therapy, More

6 min read

Don’t take this personally, people quit all sorts of things every day. Certainly, there are many who quit programs for diet, exercise, self-therapy and meditation programs. This article will explain why people quit, why they shouldn’t quit, what to do if they have quit and how to prevent quitting.

The quitter tends to always have an excuse.

Excuses like… It’s summer and I’m too busy. My physical therapist said I shouldn’t train now. I can’t make the time for it. I can’t afford it right now. It’s too hard. I’m not making progress. Etc.

But secretly the excuse is hiding the real reason for quitting. Lack of compliance, not getting results fast enough, disliking the teacher or participants in the program, not understanding why and what they are doing, being a complete bum, and so on….

When you begin a program, you are excited and full of belief, energy, willingness, and commitment.

Then…..

Hey! What happened to all that excitement and motivation from day one? Did you think it would just happen and you wouldn’t have to work for it? So after 30, 40, 50 years of being a physical ‘bum’, you think one or two or even 6 months of 50-75% compliance is going to change your life?

Excuses expose ignorance.

At the end of the day, what are we even doing?

We are learning how to take care of ourselves. This means you have to learn about Nutrition, Movement, Self-Therapy, and Meditation. Each one of these subjects takes years to understand. And first, you must learn generally about these subjects and then second how that knowledge can be applied to your own life/self. That is the way things are.

So knowing you are here to learn how to take care of yourself and that the topics are large and complex…. It would be wise if you devote time daily to your studies and practice (applying what you learn to your own body/mind). One or two hours a week will never be enough time to understand these subjects.

In other words…. Your lifestyle must change. You must go from doing nothing in regards to Nutrition, Movement, Self-Therapy, Meditation, to practicing something every day, multiple times a day. This is the shift in how you live.

You start a new program or goal wanting change. Then you start digging in and things become difficult and you are forced to change your day to day living and or do things that take more effort than you are willing to put out…. Things get uncomfortable, and you learn new things about your own willingness to progress. And you quit….

This is terrible, weak and unforgivable.

Don’t quit. It’s that simple. Do what you can and slowly do more. But to walk away from everything is shameful.

*THIS PART IS IMPORTANT

How do you prevent quitting? Have a goal.

What did you want? Why did you want it? How will you obtain it?

Let’s say your goal is to get rid of back pain, and you want to get rid of your back pain so you can live a ‘normal’ life with less pain, and you decide you must lose bodyweight and increase strength and flexibility.

Great so the goal is to get rid of back pain, and your priorities are to follow a diet and exercise program. Seems simple enough.

So when you decide to quit ask yourself…

What was my goal? Have I been doing the work to achieve my goal?

Then ask yourself, have I achieved my goal? If you haven’t achieved it keep working at it.

And if you haven’t done the work, start doing it.

Don’t give up and make excuses for yourself to quit.

A second example:

Goal: Do a pullup
Priorities: Follow a training program to achieve a pullup

What?: Do a pullup
Why?: Life long goal
How?: Follow the program

So very simply when you decide you want to give up ask your self, did you follow the program and did you make your goal of training for a pullup a priority in your day to day life.

Sorry, everyone. It’s that simple. The trick is learning about your self and working on things that are important to who you are at your ‘core’ being. That is the process, learning who you are by learning about external subjects that directly affect how you live, think and be.

In the health, wellness and training world, it’s fairly simple.

Looking good naked, being strong and fit, and feeling great (of course, the more advanced you become these will not be the reasons for your practice). Everyone has their own reasons and ideal of what this means, and everyone must put effort into achieving, maintaining, and developing these things their entire life.

To discuss specifics with greater detail would be useless because everyone is so unique, their mental and emotional capacity are different, and their current circumstances and motivation are always changing.

The one thing across all people is…

If you set out with a goal, vision, dream and the ‘thing’ is obtainable, don’t quit on your self because it’s more work than you think you are capable of doing. Do it at your own pace and enjoy the work. But never ever just walk away and quit something that you have had first-hand experience with. Give it time, it could take years, but we are talking about YOU and YOUR GOALS so there are no excuses that are worthy of stopping you from being a ‘better’ version of yourself.

Remember, progress is change. So don’t go back to old ways.

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