Importance of Sharing Failure

For about a month and a half, I've attempted to make a conscious decision to eat better and exercise more.  

The last two weeks, I basically threw my progress out the window and indulged in every gluttonous whim I could've shoved down my throat.

Terrible.

I put off getting on the scale because I knew my vice would come taunting me in gained pounds.  However, I started publicly posting my progress on FB for the specific purpose of holding myself accountable.  The first few updates were great.  

"Hey!  I lost a few pounds!"

"Diet and exercise still working."

That sorta stuff.

However, I didn't want to post this one.  I didn't want to post my failure, because that's what this was.  A failure.  Who wants to make that public?

But I posted the results just the same because it's important for people to understand that the "reality" they see on social media sites isn't reality.  The "I lost 10 lbs!" doesn't happen magically.  It doesn't happen all at once.  It happens with effort.  REAL effort.

And with real effort comes real temptation to quit.  Real temptation to throw your hands up and rationalize why you don't need to exercise or why you can get away with eating that cookie.

I know for a fact that some of my friends are influenced by what I post on my feed, especially things dealing with body image / self-esteem.  As such, I feel a real responsibility to portray my struggles alongside the success so they don't think I'm this "lucky duck" version of reality.  

So I posted this:

Being sick the last two weeks, I've totally derailed my diet and exercise routines. As a result, I gained back one of the pounds I lost. Worse, I let almost two weeks go by... two weeks I COULD have been losing 4 more pounds.

I post this because changing your lifestyle isn't always "I lost X lbs! Yay me!"

It's also recognizing where you've failed, holding yourself accountable for it, and making dang sure you don't make the same mistake. 

Sick or not, lazy is lazy. 

Sooooo, back on the bandwagon.

Apparently it was a good move on my part.  I got a private message from a friend who has really been struggling with her own weight loss.  She was frustrated that it seemed "easy" for people like me to shed pounds.  It made her feel like she was doing everything wrong (when obviously that was never my intention).  

So by pointing out that I fail just as easily as her, she felt less annoyance with me and even opened up to sharing her own struggles with weight loss.

I'm posting this here because I think it's very, VERY important to share failures.  All they are, in essence, are stepping stones to success.  If you recognize them as errors and work to rectify them, you can use that knowledge in the future as a means to motivate yourself towards whatever goal it is that you have.

So as I pointed out on Facebook, my new mantra is going to be "Recognize and Rectify."

And that goes for all areas of my life - spiritual as well as physical.  :)

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