Note to My Future Self

Dear Future Self,

I know that there are days that you do not, under any circumstances want to go to the gym. You are, after all, intrinsically lazy and oh-so sedentary at your very core. However, I would like you to remember those first two weeks in June of 2007, when you started lifting weights five days a week and doing cardio just as often. Remember how your body responded immediately to your escalated activity level? And how you felt the firmness in your triceps right away? Remember the swagger with which you walked into the office each afternoon, after the lunch time workouts? Remember the day you woke up SO cranky and decided that the lunch time workout wasn’t happening that day? And how you sat in the meeting at ten o’clock that morning not listening to what your VP was saying, instead having an inner argument between the lazy side and the fit diva side of your brain? You’d talked yourself out of going to the gym but right after the meeting, you half ran to the car, on auto-pilot and made a bee-line for the gym. Remember how you worked your aggression out on the weights that day? And that you felt so much better when you got back to the office. I think you almost had a smile on your face and I KNOW you felt infinitely satisfied when your boss told you how good you were looking and that your hard work was paying off. Now Future Self, I know something is bound to happen where this routine of yours that is working for now like a well oiled machine. You’re going to get stressed about school or about work or about home or about the latest man who broke your heart (or vice versa) and that is inevitably going to wreak havoc on getting the fitter body you’ve always wanted, but take it from your Past Self, don’t give up. Don’t lose the focus you had when you started this routine, don’t forget how good you felt about yourself and how you carried yourself just a bit taller. You’re doing something wonderful for yourself but you need to continue it and be persistant at getting what you want. You can be a quitter and not as tenacious as perhaps you should be. Every time you feel like you want to quit the gym or take a little break, don’t. You’re only cheating yourself. So suit up, show up and get it done. For me? Pretty Please?

Love,
S