Waiting for perfect

I walk into the Air B&B and am confused. I booked a two bedroom, 1 bath apartment, but this doesn’t look like the pictures.

It’s late. I’m frustrated by how long and confusing the journey here has been. We’ve navigated buses, taxis, stinky trash, and the late night partying crowd to find ourselves on the doorstep of our new “home” in Seoul.

And as much as I’m wishing this is some kind of mix-up, this is indeed the right place. We eventually get the kids rounded up for bed and ready for school the next morning. I lay down, feeling a blanket of sadness. I tell myself it will be better when the sun comes up. Sleep followed by sunshine has cured many of my low feelings.

The kids get off to school on Monday morning but I was finding it hard to ground myself. I had big plans to reimplement my ‘get strong’ plan while abroad. But as I look around, I tell myself:

It’s not clean enough.

There’s not enough space.

I’ll get enough exercise from walking.

I had these thoughts on repeat for over a week, before I realized that I could find a million reasons to delay the goal, but what would really help was for me to find one reason to start.

I accepted and was totally aware that my expectations had not been met but now I was the one blocking myself from what I wanted. So, I took the smallest steps I could to move myself in the right direction.

👉🏼 Day 1: I decided I did want to work out again. Being an athlete of life is a long-term goal of mine.

👉🏼 Day 2: I bought cleaning supplies for the apartment.

👉🏼 Day 3: I cleaned the floors.

👉🏼 Day 4: I bought a yoga mat.

✨ Day 5: I chose a path of least resistance. Found an old yin yoga that takes me about 15 minutes to do….

I did it…and then, I found myself scrolling to find something more challenging and aligned with my strength training goal.

One small step, imperfect and compassionate, led me to action. I took control of the elements I could and surrendered the rest. I didn’t beat myself up or make myself do something that felt hard. I took the step that was in front of me.

Today, was the sixth day I’ve worked out. All routines feel hard in the beginning because they are not your habit. All routines start with one step. It can be a big daunting one that feels like a hurdle to jump or it can be one small step at a time that feels gentle.

There’s no wrong or right. But if you’re finding it difficult to stick to something or start (or restart) something, I invite you to reduce the hurdle. Habits require consistency.

Consistency doesn’t have to require a huge amount of willpower. The less it asks of you, the more likely you are to do it. And the more likely you are to do more than you expected.

This is how I’m getting strong. It’s how I’ve written a blog for three years. It’s how I homeschool my children and work as an entrepreneur.

Perfect moments are things you create in your mind. The time for progress is now.

What’s something you want to do? get done? be? accomplish?

What’s a gentle first step you can take towards it?