Looking for the Blessings of God's Goodness

Friday, August 30, 2013

What Makes You Feel Accomplished?

Do you even remember your New Years Resolutions, your goals for accomplishing great things?  For those of you who are on track, you're over coming around the back stretch...can you believe it?! Are you on track?
For those of you like me, who started with the greatest intentions and fizzled out as the days faded into weeks and then months, TAKE HEART!  As I read on Twitter today, "We learn to walk by stumbling."  So a lot of us have stumbled and missed out on the feelings of accomplishment that catapults us into creating new challenges to accomplish. Take heart and try a different approach. Maybe some baby steps are more your learning style right now.
Over the last six+ months my "stumblings" have transformed into accomplishments that have left me shaking my head and feeling a profound sense of "wow"ness and deep accomplishment.  Last year I bought a bike and decided I needed more fresh air and lots of sunshine (baby step #1).  Being a teacher, the summer afforded me the time to get out and bike to my hearts content.  Throughout the year, I discovered the @MapMyExercise apps that developed my curiosity in the stats behind my workouts (baby step #2).  I was amazed (or disappointed) by the numbers of when I either walked, ran or biked, and it seemed as I moved from workout to workout I was motivated to up my statistics.  I went from putting in 2-3 miles to easily 5-7, sometimes even more!
Then I discovered the Swamp Rabbit Trail, a biking adventure I'll never forget.  I had a blast, never once looked at my app, but remembered to start it as we left on our adventure.  When I got home and saw we had biked over 20 miles and burned 904 calories, I was hooked (Big Baby Step #3).  The numbers intrigued and enticed me and I developed a desire to push myself a little further each time I worked out.  Did I always feel this way?  No!  But over time I stretched my "normal" and saw myself going distances I never dreamed I could do.
Spring rolled around and I was poised and ready to challenge myself!  I felt like I had transformed from baby steps to giant leaps.  I had built a solid foundation of baby steps and now I was confident in making attainable monthly goals.  And boy did I make some serious and realistic goals that I'm still shaking my head and thinking, "I can't believe I accomplished that!"
April and May's accomplished goals all led to the making of my most challenging goals for June: 200 miles of exercise and burning 11,000 calories.  To anyone who has no experience in understanding these stats, I'm sure they seem crazy!  But on June 30, I moved beyond accomplishing beyond my goals and logged my highest stats ever: 208 exercise miles and 11,718 calories burned...WOW!!!  I felt an immense sense of accomplishment!  That is, until today, when I received my Mid-Year Fitness Report...I was in SHOCK!!!
I don't even think I would have ever set goals like this...I would have thought I was crazy!  I'm not a major biker or runner; I'm just the "down to earth, girl next door" whose trying to take care of her body through exercise.  How in the world did I accomplish exercising 645.2 miles and burn 37,508 calories? In looking back over the process, I am convinced of three things:
1. I allowed my "stumbling" failures to help me take realistic baby steps.
2. I found a way to merge my passion for technology with exercise. My fascination behind exercise statistics gave me a focus beyond the fact that I was exercising, and I didn't particularly want to.
3. Fascination + Passion + Motivation over time = Accomplishments Beyond What I Could Imagine!
 
So, where are you? Where can you start turning you "stumblings" into baby steps? A sense of pride and accomplishment is priceless and I wish for you the ability to attain these as you find what makes you feel accomplished!
"Little by little, inch by inch.  By the yard it's hard, by the inch, what a cinch!  Never stare up the stairs, just step up the steps.  Little by little, inch by inch, IT'S A CINCH!" -Ron Hamilton

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