If you're tired of starting over, then stop giving up

This particular quote really rings true to me previously in my life. If you know me personally, you know that I am a perfectionist. If I don’t feel like I will success I cower away or avoid something. I also have let fear drive me in the past. A good example is that I have wanted to run a 5k for 3 years now. I all fairness I was pregnant for 10 months of one of those years but what about the other 2 years and 2 months? Well, no more! I recently signed up for my first 5k with the encouragement of a couple of incredibly supportive friends. They encouraged me to sign up so I would actually participate and not put it off again. Yesterday, I finally started training. I was incredibly proud of myself. I got home from work and decided to go for a run. I was exhausted. Between daylight savings (whoever thought that was actually a good idea?), not sleeping the night before and being up since 5:30am, this was not a normal feet for me. But I had my greens from It Works! (go check out my website if you are curious wrapitwithmandm.com or our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wrap-it-with-MM/238382149680861. If you enjoy my blog, come give us a like.) and it gave me SO much energy. While I was running, I was thinking about how if I were that tired and I still went running, how can I justify not working out most days? Then this quote popped into my head. I do give up with my workouts all.the.time… and then I do feel like I need to start over. Well, no I don’t. I need to keep going, building off wherever I left off last time. I have been working out inconsistently but semi regularly since January. Even though I have worked out maybe 1-2 times per week I have made progress. I was able to run 12 of 16 intervals before I really felt it. While doing yoga, I recently mastered upward dog. I haven’t been ever able to do this. I am making HUGE progress and I feel more successful when I focus on where I have come from not where I have to go yet. So my point? Small, little, manageable steps are better than no steps or taking too big of steps and getting discouraged. Small steps are more likely to become permanent habits. It is not about getting it perfect every time. A healthy lifestyle is like anything else. It is about learning, making mistakes and finding what works for me. If you keep starting over, you never make progress. So, I am going to stop starting over and stop giving up.