When to Push It

Ahh, push it, push push push push it!

I’m talking about the gym, for those minds in the gutter right now, (or, if you’re under 35, you might not know what song I mean). :)

So, I was at the gym, running, trying to push beyond the wave of nausea that had sprung up – a wave of a returning cold that’s been going around – and because I was at first frustrated by this, and the fact that I hadn't been the gym that week (yadda yadda), I decided that instead of stopping or slowing down like I usually do when I get low warning signs (like nausea, chest tightness, or hives), I would speed up.

How many of us do this? Speed up when we might need to slow down because we think we can, because we're feeling something we don't want to feel?

At first, I was triumphant. The wave of I’m-going-to-be-sick passed. "Yay! It worked!"I told myself. I got a flush of energy, and then in its place, suddenly, arose a feeling of the world moving in and out.

Not good. 

I stopped. And, because I stopped, I lost my momentum and had to slowly build up to where I’d begun.

You might ask yourself how this has to do with you…

Well, I ask you:

* Is your tendency to stop or push past warning signs in your life?

* What are your warning signs that you are going too fast? 

**Think about internal warning signs like fatigue, or external ones, like your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner complaining that you never seem available or really present when you are in the room!

* Do you tend to add on additional activities when you actually need to slow down, in an attempt to distract yourself from unwanted feelings?

There may be times in your life, when you have to push past negative feelings or make a deadline, but I ask you to think through if that deadline should be all the time.

How would your life be if you slowed down?  

Tip:

If your tendency is to slow down when you feel the slightest uneasiness, experiment with adding one (ONE) thing to your day and track your feelings.

If your tendency is to add more activities, especially to distract yourself from your feelings, subtract one thing to your day and track your feelings. 

Are you better at what you do? More present? Enjoying more of life? 

That’s the goal! :)