I’m a Star Wars fan. I have been since I was a kid (and I was a kid when it first came out!), and my favorite character has always been Yoda. Such a wise one with a really strange way of speaking! Two of my favorite quotes from Yoda are, “Named must your fear be before banish it you can,” and, “Do or do not. There is no try.” Very profound if you truly listen to each statement! Each one addresses fears and excuses.
Fears and excuses are two big reasons people do not do. They are the reasons people do not accomplish their goals, dreams, heart’s desires. Many people live in the land of fear and excuses. A big fear of many people is change. Change means effort. Change means rethinking what we have always done. Change can make us feel as if we have lost control. Change can mean discomfort or even pain. Change may even mean admitting you were wrong. So instead of facing the necessary changes, we live in fear and make excuses for why we do not change.
Many years of my life were lived in the “fear and excuses” land. I wrote about that somewhat in my last article. I feared failure. I feared trying to lose weight for the umpteenth time and failing. I feared being thin and drawing too much attention to myself. I feared the work it would take to meet my goals. And all that fear lead to excuses. I’m too fat. I’m too tired. I’m too embarrassed. I don’t want to see or be seen. I’m hungry. I’m too hot. I’m too cold. I have asthma. I don’t feel good. I don’t have time. I don’t have the money to join a gym. I don’t have the right clothes. I bet you could list all of your excuses and they would be on my list, too. It was THAT long. I used every excuse in the book. I was so afraid of change that I moved from “fear and excuses land” to “denial land.” And as I said in my previous article, I paid the price by weighing 300lbs! I finally conquered my fears and lost all the weight and got myself on the healthy track.
However, after my son was born in August 2013, I moved slowly back into the land of fear and excuses. My excuses fueled my fear and my fear fueled my excuses. Okay, so I was a new mom and I was legitimately tired. I mean, if baby doesn’t sleep, momma doesn’t sleep. Several months of sleep deprivation can definitely make anyone not have the energy or motivation to eat healthy and get moving again! But here it was, eight months later, and I was still making excuses. Baby was sleeping through the night now (for the most part) and I was getting better sleep. I had the will and the desire to make things better, but I still found myself making excuses. I don’t have time. I’m too tired. I have to run errands without the baby. I have to run errands with the baby. The baby needs a nap. The baby wants to play. Now it’s time for baby to eat…again.
Sure, that all still has to happen, but there is such a thing as prioritizing. Making me and my health a priority had to happen because I needed to be a healthy, happy mom for my little guy. He deserves a mom that can run and play with him. He deserves a mom that can show him how to eat right. He deserves a mom that isn’t depressed and hating herself every time she looks in the mirror and saw that last fifteen pounds of “baby fat” still hanging on.
So, I named my fear. My fear was effort. I would have to put forth an effort to lose the weight. Just like I did before, but this time I probably would have to work a little harder. I still had the benefit of gastric bypass and not being able to eat a lot. However, I’ve stretched my stomach some and can eat more than before. I’m also older, so the weight seems to want to hang on longer.
It’s okay though. I named my fear and I am conquering it. I did not try, I did and I do! I made myself run. Every other day, on my lunch break at work, I run. I started out barely being able to run. It was mostly walking with a sprinkle of running. I set my goal to run the FireFly 5K in March. I had run the same 5K a year earlier when I was 5 months pregnant! There was no reason I couldn’t do it now! I DID IT! No excuses. I DID IT. And my time was better than before, thankfully!
I still run. Every other day, at least 30 minutes and my new goal is to better my time each day and to not make excuses why I “can’t” run that day. I can run. I will run. I ran today!
Here’s to moving away from the land of fear and excuses and living in the land of health and happiness! Find your fear, name it, and conquer it. “DO or DO NOT. There is no TRY!”
