10 Powerful Lessons From My 30-Day Fitness Integrity Challenge
Last week I wrapped up my 30-day personal Fitness Integrity Challenge.
To give you the back story, I created this challenge as a way to get back into integrity with working out. I had stopped exercising consistently and really wanted to get myself back on track. (You can read more about my intention in embarking on the challenge here.)
To me, integrity means what I think, what I say, and what I do are all in sync. And where my fitness routine was concerned, these three things had really fallen out of alignment.
This challenge was an interesting journey. There were a few days where I wasn’t sure I would finish. Then there was this very positive outcome: I was able to flex a new muscle which was to bring in support from others -- my coach, my friends, my community, and of course my family. I got to change my relationship to asking for help, which was a huge breakthrough for me. I didn't do it all alone!
In the end, I’m proud to report that I made it through all 30 days. There were some powerful lessons I learned along the way that I want to share with you:
1. Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from doing things.
Failure happened for me in this challenge early and often. And in the face of failure, I decided to push on and move forward anyway. To pick up the pieces and get back on course. The reality is that failure will happen in anything you do and it is actually a necessary part of the process. It’s the indicator that you’re reaching outside of what’s comfortable.
2. Sometimes the only thing to do is to give yourself a break.
During the challenge, there was one day when I was feeling like “I just need to suck it up”. The same day the “universe” sent me a message via Instagram, or my friend Michelle Akin. Michelle’s post was a quote by Tara Mohr:
“Where we think we need more discipline, we usually need more self-love”.
This quote really resonated with me and after hearing it, I repeated it back to myself during those mornings I was really struggling. It reminded me to choose self-love in the tough moments.
3. Some things — like lifting weights — are just challenging.
The lesson here is don’t resist, instead be present to the difficulty. There was a time in my life when I needed the pain, suffering and discomfort to feel alive. I now get to relate to these things as challenges to be with rather than power through.
4. The benefits of being in integrity are limitless.
Being in integrity feels really great. Yet I’ve noticed that it’s so much more than just getting things done or reaching a goal. There is extra energy and excitement available when I’m in integrity. My day goes much more smoothly, and things that seemed like problems end up working themselves out with little or no effort.
5. Use courage to bring yourself just one more step forward toward your goal.
This was an ever-present theme for me during the challenge and it is something I talk to my clients about all the time. It was acknowledging my fear of failing and then summoning the courage to do it any way that got me out there me out there each day.
6. Choose outside of your present circumstances.
One thing I am very aware of is that it can be really easy to let outside circumstances derail me. These circumstances sound like: “I’m tired, it's raining, it’s too hot, I don’t have time”. The things that can easily become excuses. During the challenge, I routinely had to remind myself that I could choose outside of my circumstances, and move forward anyway in service of keeping the commitment to what I said I would do.
7. Suffering is optional.
As I mentioned, my tendency to suffer through things definitely came up during the challenge. There we several times when I noticed this happening and I decided not to take myself too seriously, and instead chose to add some fun and play to my workout.
8. Try something you think is impossible.
What we perceive as "impossible" is often simply our relationship with the goal or task. This is actually the place where real possibility lives for us all. If we only do what we know is possible, we are living in comfort, translation, and no growth -- and nothing will change. On the other side of that lives possibility, freedom, and access to unlimited power. The chance to be what I call “at cause” in your life.
9. You get to make the rules as you go.
I found that I had to redefine integrity -- and what exactly I was committed to -- many times in this challenge. These were the days where I chose:
Self-love vs Discipline
Relationship vs Arrogance
Softness vs Gutting it out!
Impossible vs Comfort
Strength vs Force
Get to vs Got to
Kindness vs Self-loathing
The lesson here is sometimes choosing not to do something or to do it in a more gentle and loving way is wiser than simply pushing forward toward just for the sake of it.
10. Failure is the only option!
This brings me back to lesson #1 -- failure. One thing that has become clear to me in the last 30 days is that if I’m not failing, I’m not operating outside of my comfort zone. If I’m not failing regularly, I’m just playing it safe and not really challenging myself. So here are my questions for you: Can you welcome failure? What are you willing to fail at? What will you learn from today’s failures?
I started this challenge with the intention of getting back into my fitness routine and to take better care of my physical body. At the same time, I had the sense that it would also be a mirror for my relationship with myself -- and this turned out to be true. What was most unexpected during a time where there was a lot of muscle building, was my ability to soften and allow at the same time -- to ask for help and to choose to be kinder and more loving to myself along the way.
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