The other day I was teaching a new mom postnatal pilates on the reformer. She came into the session beaming and really energetic. After asking her how she was doing, she exclaimed that she had gotten her 3 month old to sleep for more than an hour nap! I congratulated her immediately, knowing exactly how she must be feeling! We talked more about the process of getting her son to nap and how the day prior she was beating herself up over not being able to get him to go to sleep at all!
What I told her is something I also often have to remind myself. Congratulate yourself and TAKE NOTICE of those daily victories. In the case of my client, I told her that she should be happy about these “small victories” and that her son would continue to change, but know that this whole sleeping thing was his lesson to learn…and would be re-learned several times during his childhood.
In much the same way that new moms deal with the ever changing sleep of their babies (believe me…I found out at 22 months that my daughter was changing yet again!), we have to understand that we are also changing as we create new habits, take on new jobs, meet new people, and generally develop as human beings. No one is perfect, but if you stay consistent and are conscious of your behaviors, you have a much better chance of having more and more of these small victories.
Pretty soon, those small victories will reveal big achievements! Not only will you notice the changes in your life, your health, and your body, but so will others!
So, let me share with you some of my small victories from today–
- I ate clean 85% of my day.
- I wrote 4 articles for this month and managed to get in a workout!
- I took a long walk to the beach with my husband & daughter…and ran around in the sand.
What did you accomplish today for yourself? Did you get your workout done? What about just eating well for most of the day? Did you drink enough water? I don't care how small the “victory” seems, take a moment and take note of these accomplishments for the day.