Consistency is kinda hard

I find myself coming back to the topic of consistency a lot because I know that most of my clients struggle with this as an idea and I want to try and help them understand the nuances that we can apply within what consistency actually means

But when I was a newbie personal trainer and also when I was a lot younger striving for my straight A’s, I would’ve described consistency as doing the same thing over and over again refining perfecting to achieve the goal or result that I wanted

All It really got me a feeling of failure, even when I was trying my very best

And I see this a lot with the people that I work with who have a very black-and-white mindset about what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad and how they should behave and eat and drink and exercise

It wasn’t until I learn to exist in the multiple layers of grey (I had to resist saying Fifty Shades of grey ) …

… that I really started to thrive and find my confidence again and ultimately find a way to be consistent

I was missing out on the key ingredient for success …. I was trying my best, but I wasn’t giving myself any credit for it

When I felt like I was failing, I ended up participating in behaviours that moved me a lot further away from the goals that I had

I would procrastinate, I would binge eat. I would avoid social situations under the guise of ‘being in control’

I did a lot of damage to my health in those days and I missed out on a lot

Nowadays, I recognise that I can only do what I can do and this is how I can be consistent because I believe in myself and I believe that I’m doing my best and that my best is enough

At the moment, I have a baby that needs to get up at 3 am to have a nappy change and a feed

This means that my sleep is broken and lower than I would normally like to aim for

But instead of punishing myself for not reaching my sleep target which is what I would’ve done years ago

I look at what I have been able to do and remind myself that I’m doing my best and for now my best is absolutely enough

We can apply this thinking to all the different aspects of lifestyle when you think about the constraints that you have that might be preventing you either temporarily or long-term from implementing the changes that you want to make

This is not to make an excuse for not doing things that you know you need to do , it’s simply being realistic about what is possible right now

In an ideal world, I would be sleeping nine hours a night eating 10 different fruit and vegetables a day resting and relaxing doing breath work et cetera

And some days I can do this

But most days at the moment, I’m probably getting 6 to 7 hours sleep at the most , eating between 3 to 6 fruit and veg day and taking a few deep breaths every now and again when I remember to

And now with the circumstances that I’m juggling, running a small business weaning a baby, looking after the needs of myself my husband, my dog and all of my clients, I’m 100% okay with not hitting all of my targets

As my lifestyle changes as my baby gets a bit older and her needs change, as I get more used to the new routines that we have to implement around weaning, I know that things will move towards a balance that I would prefer to aim for

The biggest difference though is my mindset

When I was aiming for perfection, I was failing almost every single day

Now that I aim for the very best that I can do on any given day I succeed every day

And this is the difference between me feeling calm, confident and clear on the direction I’m going in

Versus feeling lost, frustrated and often angry that I wasn’t able to do the things that I knew were best for my health

It turns out the best thing for my health was actually relaxing the goals relaxing the rules and giving myself leeway because life is not an ideal circumstance every single day

So that’s my take on consistency and if you’re in a similar situation to me where the choices that you want to make for your health and well-being just aren’t actually possible.

Try and find a way to recognise the elements of those things that you are doing and make a plan , for when a time comes where you might be able to do something that align more with what you would prefer to do

If you want to talk about it, drop me a line