Is It Really All or Nothing?

Few things frustrate me as much as telling myself I’ll do something and then not doing it.

 

It’s probably silly to be frustrated by myself, but I think we all do it.

 

February is Heart Month, and, as you probably know, heart health matters quite a bit to my family. Last year, I participated in an Instagram challenge led by the Pediatric Congenital Heart Association of Illinois (PCHA-IL) to raise awareness about congenital heart disease (which my 1-year-old son has, if we haven’t met :)). This year, the plan was to participate again.

 

This month has been one of those fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants sort of months, so I opted for the one-week version over the full month challenge I did last year. I figured I was setting myself up for success.

 

Want to know how I did? One day. I did One. Day.

 

I almost forgot, but did it on day one. Day two rolled around and I forgot until the kids went to bed, and ended up going to bed myself, deciding to just do two posts the next day.

 

The next day, day three, I thought about posting and then decided it would look silly to post two instead of one. So, I didn’t do it at all.

 

On day four, not even half-way through, I gave up. I was too far gone; there was no use getting back in now.

 

We do this all-or-nothing stuff to ourselves all the time, don’t we?

 

We start a workout routine, miss a few days, and decide we ruined it. We keep thinking of calling that friend we haven’t talked to in awhile, but, the longer we wait, the more we decide they will not want to hear from us anymore. We start eating right or ditch a bad habit, have a cheat day or two, and figure there’s no use going back.

 

Who said it has to be all or nothing?

 

Fear, that’s who.

 

When we fall into the all-or-nothing mindset we are letting fear drive the bus.

 

Dropping into an all-or-nothing mentality is simply an excuse we make because we are afraid.

 

For me and my Instagram challenge, it’s fear of looking stupid to others. Or melodramatic. Or like a slacker. Or of them not liking what I have to say. 

 

A lot of the time it can be narrowed right down to the fear of failing.

 

But, the only way to succeed is to ACT.

 

So, the next time you catch yourself deciding that you’ve fallen too far behind to keep going, ask yourself if it’s really all or nothing. Because it’s probably not.

 

Maybe your heart is just not in it. Then drop it.

 

Maybe it really is too late. Then pivot.

 

Maybe you could jump back in anyway. Then do it.

 

It’s you who decides if you can keep going, not fear. You drive the bus. 🙂