I have found after a long hiatus from anything, that it’s always hard to get started again. What do they say…it takes 21 days to make a habit and only a few days to break it? This seems to be true for just about everything…following a new diet, exercise plan, goal setting, you name it. I’ve been riding the struggle bus on this one for awhile now. It’s like a bad addiction. I know I should stop but I can’t seem to pull myself out of this vicious cycle. I beat myself up left and right about it, but then every excuse in the book makes it easy to go back for another hit. A hit of what, you ask? Lethargy. Apathy. Listlessness. As I type this, it sounds so ridiculous. But that trap is laced in denial with a side of resignation. It’s a dream killer.

Everything has a muscle, be it literal or metaphorical, that atrophies after a prolonged lack of usage. With the passing of every day, it becomes more and more difficult to stop inertia in its tracks before it feels like I’ve hit that point of no return. So I had a chat the other day with a friend of mind who is also a coach. She listened quietly and intently and then politely backhanded me with the truth. Marisa, what it sounds like is you keep letting yourself off the hook. Why do you keep doing this? You know exactly what you need to do…

It’s easier to take the path of least resistance. But some bright mind said that path leads to a life of least existence. If I have the choice, why would I ever choose the former? Why would anyone? Yet so many resign themselves to the small confines of their comfort zone, never stepping outside into the great beyond. Content in complacency. Who am I to judge?

But I know there is something better out there. Something more. The place where dreams cross over into the realm of reality and knock on the door, rewarding you for all the hard work and commitment despite all roadblocks, mental or otherwise, that impede the path. It’s overcoming the challenges that makes the reward worth it. It’s the blood, sweat and tears left up the trail of the mountain that renders the view at the summit so gratifying. I know this to be true. I’ve done it before.

As I recall, the hardest part of all of this glorious madness was getting started. The second hardest part, I imagine, is starting again… But Rome wasn’t built in a day. So I will be patient. And diligent. And resolute. One brick at a time.

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It’s safe to say I am my own worst enemy, the greatest limiting factor in my head. But it’s not impossible. Once that thought is firmly rooted in my head…then anything is possible.

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To believe a thing impossible is to make it so. ~ French Proverb

The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible. ~ Anonymous

It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.  ~ Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own