So, you want to get fit and healthy. You wake up in the morning and think about all the people waking up at 4 AM and exercising and think, “How the $&@% do people do that?!”. You are tired and just thinking about the small workout goal you set for yourself makes you cringe, so you decide that you will do some of it during your lunch break and some when you get home. Lunch comes and work was more than you expected. You are mentallyand/or physically exhausted, so you think, “Let me eat real quick and then ill do a little bit”. Lunch seems to fly by and you are already back to work before you know it. You decide that, since you weren’t able to get them in during lunch, you would do half when you get home and half before you shower. When you get home you quickly try to catch up on all your little chores, (taking the dogs out, a load of laundry, clean up, make dinner etc.) but by the time you finish you feel like you’ve been on the go all day and you just want to unwind a little before you have to do anything else. The (TV, Computer, Video Games, Books etc.) are calling to you, so you decide to take a break. This is the highlight of your day and you get really immersed into this activity. By the time you realize you need to cut yourself off and get back to work, you look at the clock only to find that it’s MUCH later than you thought so you quickly hop in the shower, finish getting ready to turn in for the night and thats when you think, “$&@% I didn’t do my goal today! …ok, tomorrow. Tomorrow I will do it for sure! Maybe I’ll try to get it out of the way as soon as I wake up so I don’t forget.” you psych yourself up for tomorrow and go to sleep.  In the morning the cycle starts over.

Sloth isn’t just being lazy, it’s a physical, psychological and even spiritual state of being. It’s a lack of motivation, interest and emotion. It is also indifference, sluggishness and self-pity. I can relate to most of these since I also suffer from Anxiety-Depression but I see sloth as distinctly different. Depression is due to an underlying condition (chemical imbalance, anxiety etc.). I feel sloth also lacks direction and aspiration to be different.

The opening to this blog is a typical day for me. When I look at it I think, “See? This is why you’re fat, because you can’t just DO it. Its not that hard. Stop making excuses for yourself and JUST DO IT”. But it IS hard. Its hard to break the cycle and actually set time aside to “get fit” or “workout”. Even eating healthy is hard. I buy salad and leave it in my fridge so ill eat it for lunch or dinner. I end up opting for sleep instead of waking up to my first alarm to make salad for lunch because I feel so tired all the time, so I end up running out the door in the morning with barely enough time to get ready for work. I grab something from the quickie-mart for lunch since its right across the street and I down it quickly to make extra time to get a little extra work time in. After work, I want real food since I ate crap for lunch and salad just does’t sound like something that will satisfy me.

If you are like me, you know exactly what i mean and how hard this is. SO, how so we break the cycle? PLANNING AHEAD. This is what needs to happen. Not just wanting to do something, but actually working it into the routine. As much as I would LOVE to be one of those “meal preppers”, I’m not… BUT, I could possibly make a Tupperwarecontainer with salad in it for the next day since i keep the “mixed greens” in my fridge and I had bought a little container of shredded chicken from the store. This will literally take me less than 5 minutes to throw those ingredients in there and I could do that when I go into the kitchen to make dinner or get a drink. Today, I did squats at work while I ate my salad for lunch. Eat a few bites, do 1 set of squats, repeat. I know that probably isn’t ideal for some of you, but i found that it has worked for me and it didn’t seem so bad to do it this way.

My conclusion: Taking little steps is a great way to make your big changes happen. Even if you fall off the wagon, just dust yourself off and work on getting back on track. Find a way that works for you or do it in a way that does’t seem so bad. Try to be consistent.