By Wilma Young
Why is it that we can encourage our children, cheer on our best friends, console our spouses but leave ourselves in a tailspin over the slightest of indiscretions? I recently had a conversation with a client regarding her “failures”. She was feeling like a week of “bad behavior” had negated months of hard work. I have most certainly walked in her shoes! The roller coaster of changing your health and improving your body is not always easy. We start with the best of intentions. We shop and prepare, work out and plan only to find a sick child or an extra project at work provides a temporary derailment. This is usually the time we give up! If this were to happen to our loved one, we would hug them and encourage them but for ourselves, we berate and get disgusted with the fact that we are not perfect. We ultimately feel like a failure. I am suggesting that we turn this around once and for all. The definition of failure is never to try. The definition of success is making to the gym, making a healthy choice for lunch and providing a nurturing environment for our own personal growth. The definition of success is trying despite the fact that we do not accomplish perfectionism. Beside, perfectionism is an unrealistic goal and even to get close is setting ourselves up for a rigid regime that leaves us bankrupt and depressed. Let’s pride ourselves in the journey, pat ourselves on the back every time we make the healthy choice, hug ourselves for loving our own bodies and investing in them. To care for ourselves in even the tiniest of ways is truly a success. It is the small changes every day that make lasting results. Remember, failure is never trying, success is taking ACTION!