There is a lot of importance placed on building habits and having consistency (in many aspects of life, not just fitness). This can work really well for people who like routine. However, I’m sure you know that life doesn’t always go to plan and therefore we are regularly required to adapt in some way. Fitness and wellbeing habits can be very rigid – wake up at x hour, go to the gym at x hour, do a workout for x amount of time, walk x number of steps, eat x amount of vegetables… Sound familiar?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great (and encouraged) to have some kind of routine in place that works for your lifestyle and is easy to maintain. However, when things don’t go to plan, you can go from having a great routine to quickly feeling like a failure.
Take my client, Kate, for example.
She text me to say that she had slept through her alarm, missing her only opportunity to go to the gym that day and felt really disappointed in herself.
Instead of letting her feel like she’d failed, I reminded her that she has the ability to be flexible and to seek out other ways of adding movement to her day, regardless of whether she made it to the gym.
She decided to go out for a quick walk before starting work, went for another walk during her lunch break when she normally wouldn’t, stood up when she felt like she’d been sat down for too long and even found time for some yoga to wind down before bed. She ended her day feeling proud of herself rather than disappointed.
There are so many ways to move your body and going to the gym is just one of them.
If you have a rigid all or nothing approach to your fitness and wellbeing, why not try changing the narrative and seeing what other opportunities arise? Being flexible gives you the freedom to adjust, find other solutions and consider options you hadn’t even thought of before.
So, how can you bring some flexibility to your day today?