Perhaps you didn’t lose weight as quick as you expected or your business isn’t taking off as much as you expected.
Each and every one of us will experience a setback and disappointment in life, it’s unavoidable.
Setbacks are a normal part of life, especially when it comes to our health and fitness.
Setbacks aren’t the same as a failure. Failure is only when you wave the white flag and give up. Setbacks and difficult obstacles are what makes you a better man and separates you from the average man who isn’t striving to better himself.
Setbacks are a necessary part of your journey of growing because to level up in your career, fitness, and relationships require you to step outside of your comfort zone.
How you handle these obstacles is the difference between moving forward, achieving your goals, and getting exactly what you want out of life.
You can’t choose what life throws your way, but you can choose how you’ll react in each of those situations.
As Henry Ford remind us, “Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.”
Here are four ways to handle your fitness setback (and other life setbacks) and not let it stop you on your journey to bettering yourself.
1.- Acknowledge and accept the setback
First and foremost, it’s important to realize that things happen. You can prep and think about all the potential scenarios that could get in the way of your fitness goals, but the unexpected will always happen.
If you never experience any setbacks or obstacles along the way, are you actually pushing yourself as much as you could? Losing weight, building muscle, or any other fitness goal brings about its fair share of adversity. Let this adversity become a useful lesson that will only make you a better man in the long run. Speaking of that…
2.- Step back and reflect
After accepting the situation for what it is and not letting yourself wallow in the past, it’s time to learn from this situation.
Take a moment to put things into perspective and investigate why this particular situation happened. Maybe your nutrition wasn’t good this week. But, why wasn’t it good?
Was it due to lack of boundaries this week, not being prepared, or other stressful events in life that caused this lack of ideal habits?
You past week of nutrition cant’ be altered, but you can use that experience to become more self-aware of your psychology that plays a pivotal role in your behaviors.
3.- Stay in the present moment, not the past nor future
George Santayana states that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
While the past provides lessons to implement for the future, it’s important to not get trapped in the past. Dwelling over the past only brings about guilt, shame, regret, doubt, and self-loathing which aren’t conducive to making you a better and healthier man. Shifting to the future only brings about anxiousness and numerous “what if” scenarios.
Your actions and mindset need to be focused on the present moment—which ultimately is the engineering factor into a desirable future.
By focusing on the present moment, you’re becoming process oriented which is completely under your control. Being process oriented keeps you from being overwhelmed with the variables of the future.
4.- Look at the silver lining
The glass is always full, not half empty because the air takes up the other half. Things could always be worse. Focus on the opportunities in front of you and what has gone right for you instead of what isn’t going well.
Maybe the weight isn’t coming off as quick as you like, but think about where you were months ago (and even a year ago). Odds are you’re in a better position that you were then.
Therefore progress has been made, maybe not at your preferred rate, but progress is still progress.
—
—
Photo: Getty Images