Raise your hand if you have ever fallen victim to a New Years resolution. Yup… us too! In our experience, the resolution cycle looks something like this:
PHASE 1: Motivated AF. We are excited, feeling positive, and ready to crush our goals. We spring into action and life is good!
PHASE 2: We have been crushing it, and because of that we might use it as an excuse to ease off. We are still going, but maybe we lost some consistency.
PHASE 3: Motivation is fading and fast. We want to see results and probably haven’t (yet). We feel guilty and shameful for our ‘mishaps’. Things are starting to feel harder mentally, physically, and emotionally than it’s worth. We want to give up… or we literally just forget what we were doing in the first place.
PHASE 4: Bye resolution and goals. Our motivation is non-existent. Our plans didn’t go as planned and we didn’t get what we wanted. We fell back into our old habits and routine. We convince ourselves we failed and so we stop. And repeat.
This year, we decided enough is enough. We think it’s time to say goodbye to the pressure, guilt, shame, and whatever other useless byproducts come from resolutions and focus on the good stuff instead. Here is the plan:
PHASE 1: Take advantage of the motivation. Use it to practice consistency, not perfection. Just get going and start to create the habits while you’re feeling excited about them. And most importantly enjoy yourself! Do it because you love yourself, not because you want to change yourself. You’re already amazing!
PHASE 2: Don’t guilt yourself if you fall off track a little bit. Your body and your mind might need some space to make sense of a new habit. Keep going and don’t pressure yourself. Practice, practice, practice.
PHASE 3: This phase is the hardest. Pushing when you don’t want to can feel impossible. We are programmed to want results immediately, but that isn’t how it works. Either way, shame and guilt creep in and our resolutions make us feel even worse than we did before. This is phase is truly mind over matter, you can do it.
PHASE 4: Well, we aren’t going to get to this phase this time! Plain and simple, it comes down to consistency if you really want something. To avoid this phase of perceived failure, make sure you’re goals are coming from a place of contentment, love, and patience. Your resolutions should feel exciting and freeing and if they don’t, then we hazard a guess they aren’t the goals true to your values. If you choose goals out of guilt, pressure, discontentment, and fear then they won’t stick. Check yourself, and love yourself to help you keep moving forward. Love over fear will always leave you feeling like you’ve won!
Here is what we propose to help with breaking this cycle. We have scheduled our annual class challenge to start a bit later this year. Instead of starting on January 1st we are starting on the 20th. This will be right around the time phase 3 and 4 start to happen. Right when we all want to quit we are going to buckle down and take on this challenge together! We want you to use phase 1 and 2 to prepare for the challenge since you are already self motivated. This will keep your mind focused and your body safe to take on another 40 days of practice. Before you know it, it will be the end of February and you will have been going strong for two months!
Our goal is to use the challenge to keep each other motivated far past January. You are not alone in this cycle and together we have a chance to break it. We are in this together and we cannot wait to take on this new and exciting adventure with you! And remember, even if your goals look different, you can still join us. You don’t need to complete 40 classes, you need to do what makes sense for you. If you do complete the challenge, there will be some sweet prizes. Sound like something you feel like trying? Click here for more info!
See you on the mat January 20th!
Namaste!