Which would you choose?
So last night… I posed a question for Team Hephaestus. That question was NOT the one above. I had flubbed my own exercise with Hephaestus so I want to thank them for being the guinea pigs for a successful point made on Saturday. Don’t get me wrong, I was still able to make my point, just not quite as smoothly. So, Hephaestus… THIS was the intended exercise ;).
TODAY I posed the question of “Which would you choose? 60 minutes of discomfort for a day of positivity or 60 minutes of comfort for a day of negativity?”
The response was OVERWHELMINGLY positive. Talking only a couple of people chose to spend a day negatively, and one of those people even wrote down “I’m a glutton for punishment.” How cheery…
The point I was making is that we ALL have a choice, only it’s not always so black and white. How many times have you PROMISED yourself that you were going to start eating breakfast in the morning because you know it’s important. Because you know it is going to keep you on the pathway to being who you’d like to be. Because you know it will kick start your energy and leave you feeling good all day. Because you know that it’s an issue and you’d like to make good on at least ONE promise to change some of your ways. You may not be perfect all the time, but you can change some of the big things, right?
Then, that alarm that you set for 30 minutes earlier hits… You look over and don’t take more than a moment before you go “Nope… SLEEP!” and slam that snooze button for jammin’ back to dream land for a few more minutes.
That, my friends, is choosing a moment of comfort for a days worth of kicking yourself. You’ll try all day to say “oh it’s ok, I mean how important was that goal REALLY? I mean, I’ll DEFINITELY get up early and make breakfast tomorrow…” yet somehow, tomorrow never comes… You then fall into the rut of forever saying “tomorrow”… Today. You will forever be reaching for tomorrow when you choose a moment of instant comfort (sleeping in a bit longer) in return for letting yourself down and feeling secretly bummed about yourself. All day. Until “tomorrow.”
How about when you say to yourself “I need to do more… I’ve got a routine right now, but I’m complacent. It’s not as hard as it used to be and damnit I know I can push myself a little bit hard. You know what, I’m gonna add that extra gym day in! You know what… make it TWO extra gym days in! That’s what I NEED!”
Then, on the first “extra gym day” day, you start looking at the clock when it comes to quittin’ time… As each hour draws nearer and nearer to “go from work to the gym” mode, your brain starts to creep on you. It says “Really? Today? I mean… Today sucks… We’re tired you know! You still have errands to run, you crazy? You’re gonna choose the GYM over errands? That elliptical isn’t going to get that set pile of dirty clothes started! Dinner isn’t going to cook itself!” and so on and so forth so that by the time it comes to punch the clock and head to the gym, you’ve already convinced yourself that going to the gym after work would be the WORST decision you could make, all the while knowing that you’re going to regret that decision later. You KNOW you’re going to regret that decision, yet you go home anyway…
I can bet you 99% of then go home, sit on the couch, and “rest” before you end up doing your errands. That “rest” turns into a storage wars marathon/ nap (YUUUUUUP!) followed by those errands getting pushed into the ever popular “tomorrow.” If not getting done tomorrow, then guess what… 10 bucks says that you started your errands when you would have been back from the gym (or a trail, or a soccer game, or whatever floats your boat fitness wise) ANYWAY.
Again, you chose a moment of comfort (NOT going to gym… WOO!) by trading in the “I’m willing to feel down on myself for the decision I made” card.
What I’m trying to say is that when given the black and white choice of a moment of discomfort for a day of positivity or a moment of comfort for a day of negativity, you ALL (for the most part :-P) chose to feel good about yourself. I challenge you all to take a moment of discomfort: getting up a little bit earlier for breakfast… Drinking on the weekends a little less often… Packing those lunches you swear you’re going to pack and never do because you “just don’t feel like it”… Actually MAKING it to that gym appointment you made for yourself… and recognizing that you are setting yourself up to feel good ALLLLLLLLL DAAAAAAAAAY.
I hope you realize that you ALWAYS have a choice. ALWAYS.
So remember Hulksters… The choice is yours. Which would you choose?
This holds true for every one of you...
And for good measure…
– Hulk
iamhulk 