Weekly Motivation: Don’t Give Up at the First Sign of Difficulty

Most of my girlfriends maintain a very healthy life style – they excise vigorously everyday and really watch what they eat. I, on the hand, don’t like exercise & always eat until I’m about to explode. Yes, I’m lazy and lack of will power.

I used to get away with it and thought everyone should take it easy on themselves. Why work so hard? But wait.

Years on, it started to catch up with me. I couldn’t fit in any of my clothes any more. I feel tired all the time. My ageing mum could carry more weight than me.

I’m bloated, always overly bloated – my belly looks like a balloon all the time! What about people who’ve always exercised and ate sensibly? – They are fit, healthy and move around like ballerinas.

Time for a permanent change. Maybe exercise could eventually become a habit.

In the past 4 days, I’ve been doing plank and yoga stretches in the morning as well as having a smaller dinner everyday. Needless to say, at 7am this morning I felt depressed to find out that I actually weighted more than 5 days ago. So what’s the point of trying? I went back to bed, ready to give up my morning exercise forever. You see, I’m that kind of person. Whenever there’s a problem, I’d go for a snack, or a nap.

After staying in bed for another 30 minutes feeling depressed, I started to see my pattern clearly: Instead of dealing with problems (even the slightest), I simply gave up quickly. Always give up at the first sign of difficulty and never really achieve anything.

“Give it a chance! Only 4 days & you want to see immediate result? Remember you tried to have more patience?” Feeling annoyed by myself, I got the energy to get up and went through the morning routine.

For someone who doesn’t do much apart from sitting or lying in bed, little morning exercise could do wonders. I felt happier and energised. Most importantly, I’ll always remind myself to never give up at the first sign of difficulty, not even the 2nd, 3rd or 4th…