Reaching your Goals…and then Completely Abandoning Them
People get amped at certain times of the year to crush their goals.
Whether it’s the New Year, the approaching summer, an upcoming vacation or special occasion, but a month or so into it, some are struggling with motivation or have given up because they haven’t seen the results they were expecting. I understand how that happens. In the past, I would reach for the latest fad & hope that a crash diet would miraculously cure all of my weight loss woes. Time and time again I was let down by the results or lack of ability to maintain them.
I may have made a lot of mistakes in the past, but I wouldn’t change a damn thing! Past-Ashlyn could have learned a lot from Present-Ashlyn, but I like to think the fact that I have had those experiences makes me more relatable now so I can say to people that I know exactly what they’re going through and teach them all I’ve learned!
I totally understand that everyone’s goals are different, but I do know that no matter what the goal is, people rarely say “eff it” once they’ve reached it. Think about it.. perhaps you have your eye on a promotion at work. You work hard, you go the extra mile – it probably doesn’t happen after just one week of proving yourself, but once you’ve shown them how perfect you are for the job, you probably don’t start showing up late for work and missing deadlines.
Maybe your goal is to squat 300#. Anyone who looks at that goal KNOWS it’s going to take time to gain that strength. You probably track down a squat program and build with the progressions week after week. The day comes and you hit your PR, chances are you don’t decide you’re never going to do another squat again because you hit your goal.
So often I see people looking for that quick fix for their diet. I know this because I did it too! When the quick-fixes don’t pay off right away, people get frustrated and give up. In either of the above examples, if anyone gave up on their goal because they didn’t see the results instantly, we would say that’s crazy! I can’t tell you that my weight loss happened overnight. It took some time, but BECAUSE it took some time and I had to work for it, it also created healthy habits that made it easy to maintain – and I ENJOYED the process! Since I was finally doing it properly, I didn’t hate what I was doing. Never once did I consider myself on a “diet” because a diet is a short-term solution. I spent so many years creating bad habits so it just made sense it would take some time to create some healthy, new ones.
It is natural to be in pursuit of the best versions of ourselves, but without proper information on how to execute it successfully, we end up in a vicious cycle of hope followed by disappointment when we just didn’t have the right knowledge to flourish.
Hiring a professional to help can be expensive. I know because I invested thousands with a personal trainer and tried countless ineffective memberships. Making a commitment to 8 or 12 week programs can be overwhelming as well. Not just financially, but questioning yourself if you think you can steer the course for that amount of time (misinformation and failed previous attempts can really be a blow to our confidence!)
But when you see you can make one small change and add another one to it and those little changes start adding up to some big results – you realize that you can do it and reaching that goal is SO satisfying! And ya, I can’t expect to go back to those old ways again without reversing my progress but why would I want to anyways? I genuinely LIKE where this journey has taken me and I think that is the main key to success ☺️
-Ash