Friday, February 20, 2009

Friday Quote Day

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said:

“We judge ourselves
by what we feel capable of doing,
while others judge us
by what we have already done.”

That’s why you leave comments telling me what a great job I’m doing or, in the case of running, have done, while I still feel like a slacker. I know I can do better – especially with my workouts – while you see an overweight, middle-aged woman who’s run three half-marathons.

Sometimes, rarely, when I’ve done an insanely hard workout, I feel like I’ve reached my capabilities, even stretched them. But here’s the thing: My weight-loss history includes about six months of insane workouts to reach an insanely low weight goal which I maintained for – get ready – an insanely short period of time. And what I learned from that is something Jonathan frequently says: Don’t do anything to lose weight that you aren’t willing to continue doing to maintain it.

(I’m paraphrasing, Jonathan – feel free to correct me if I got it wrong. Also, the link wouldn’t work this morning; hopefully both people who read this blog will eventually be able to click over. Heh.)

So what I need to do is meld my mind with yours, pat myself on the back when I do a workout – whether it’s intense or not – and keep on keepin’ on.

You do the same. See you next month!

3 comments:

yarnbookschocolate said...

Have a good trip, I'll miss you. Maybe none of us will ever live up to our own expectations. Maybe we don't have to?

Jack Sprat said...

(1) My blog is back on line.
(2) Next time you find yourself saying (to yourself) "that wasn't the hardest workout I could have done" try this -- say to yourself "wow, I did good! That rocked! I could do that again and again."

Quite often if I change the self-talk channel from berating myself to praising myself, suddenly I can feel proud. It's worth a shot, right?

Marla said...

Yes, if only life were one continuous improvement every day! By this age, we'd be f***ing PERFECT!

I feel your pain.

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