Making a right turn: Getting on track after a setback
Making a right turn: Getting on track after a setback
When you're on the road to healthy habits, falling off track can damage your resolve, deflate your confidence and make you want to give up entirely. So how do you keep rolling forward when you suffer a setback?
Return to the road wiser Something caused you to disrupt or abandon your healthy routine. Maybe you missed a few workouts or caved into unhealthy eating. Analyze the reasons that may have triggered this setback and forgive yourself. Your personal path to wellbeing is always yours to make. What's in the windshield matters more than the rear view mirror. Now you know what to watch for and can prevent it from happening more easily.
Count mile markers, not mountains
It may not feel like you are making huge strides, but patience wins out when it comes to routine. Instead of looking for radical changes or improvements, note the small victories as you pass them by. Track your wins in a journal or using an app. It's the accumulation of many tiny wins that make the biggest leaps forward. Remember that one degree of improvement in the right direction can set you on an entirely new course.
Embrace the detours
The unpredictable happens and it's usually outside of your own control. Resist the urge to take it as a sign that you are on the wrong course and instead, find the good in the unexpected. A streak of bad weather keeps you from your morning run?
Try the new gym in your town. A promotion brings added stressors to your life? Reward yourself by allocating some of that newfound income to relaxation and self care. A detour is just a new way to get there.
Recalibrate after roadblocks
Sometimes healthy behaviors grind to a full stop. Just like your GPS, it can take a little time to reroute. Give yourself a little grace here. When you find your way back to the road, you'll realize you're still moving forward, even if you did have to backtrack a little. The only person who might even notice you temporarily lost your way is you.
Remember that a great road trip is rarely a straight line from point A to point B. It is not uneventful and predictable. The same can be said about the path to wellness. Sometimes it's the roadblocks, detours, and wrong turns along the way that make you a better traveller in the end.
