The Journey: It’s Check-In Time Paper Readers

By Samantha Brazie, Special to The Paper

Last month’s column was about goal setting. I asked you to set a goal and give it a thirty-day expiration date, knowing full well you may have some bumps in the road – but to promise yourself to get back on the wagon without beating yourself up.

So, how did you do?

Did you succeed? Did you mess up? Was it a complete and total facepalm failure? Well, guess what – every single one of those outcomes is okay if you learned something from it.

I promised to share my results with you as well. My goal was to get up and move every day for at least 30 minutes. This may not sound like much, but I went from an active life to a sedentary one and needed a starting point that I felt was manageable. Well this time around I’m happy to report a success! Since my goal was based off of movement, I started slow with walks, stretching, and cardio. Now I am up to more daily exercise than I was doing pre-COVID and feel great about it! Don’t get me wrong, most of the time I’m watching the clock towards the end for ‘quitting time,’ but it’s not as much of a struggle or a stressor anymore.

Honestly, though, this challenge was not about winning or losing, success or failure. I am 41 and have failed more times than I care to think about. However, I have learned not to give up. If it is worth the effort, it’s worth the disappointment. I’m sure you’ve heard many famous stories of failure: Walt Disney was told he wasn’t creative; Steve Job was fired from his own company; JK Rowling’s Harry Potter was rejected by all twelve major publishing houses;  as well as Oprah – fired from her first job for being ‘unfit for television’. Can you imagine what our lives would be like without some of these influential people that helped shape our country and our world?

Just because those people are well known does not make their story any more important than yours. Be proud of your Journey. Share it with people, often. Share your failures as much as your successes. Be proud that you put yourself out there no matter the outcome. You never know who it may help. Putting our heart into something and laying it on the line is something to be proud of. It has made you who you are.

Still not the best version of yourself you can be? Well friend, that is completely up to you to change … and that is more than possible, as long as you refuse to quit. Refuse to be defeated. Just know, all of us have room for improvement but no matter how far you feel you have to go, pause to give yourself some perspective and appreciate where you are in the moment. Until next time, friends!

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” ― Maya Angelou