It’s ok to start from ground zero.
Hello dear readers! I hope you are all doing wonderfully as we start to head into fall.
Today I want to talk to you about starting over.
Recently, I started back at the gym. I haven’t been in over a year, which is a big deal for me. As a quick background: I used to coach at my gym and workout pretty religiously. For my day job I work at a hospital and my hours make it difficult to get to my gym on time, and during COVID everything was shut down anyway. With things finally starting to get back to normal, I’m fighting really hard to get back to myself. Physical fitness is a big part of your overall health, and for me, it’s really good for my mental health too. I like lifting heavy things. It makes me happy.
Anyway, I stepped back into the gym for the first time in like nearly two years. Going from someone who could squat and deadlift significantly more than I weight, it’s tempting to just jump in and do weights and movements I know that I can do. BUT. And if you’ve ever done this, you know what I’m talking about, I didn’t want to be so sore I couldn’t get up and down the stairs or sit down the next day. So, I did air squats (no weight), TRX rows (instead of pull ups), and elevated push ups. Was I sore the next day? Yes. Was I so sore I couldn’t function? NOPE! #WINNING
Fun fact, it takes your tendons and ligaments as much as three times longer to strengthen/adapt to force as your muscles. So as I start back in, if I don’t ease myself into things smartly, then I could injury myself and really have to start all over.
It’s easy to get stuck in the mindset of “how far I’ve fallen from where I used to be” and just feel discouraged and want to quit or just give up entirely. However, it’s important to put your ego aside. As Dustin said “Don’t let your inner critic stop you.”
Sometimes it can be really refreshing to just start over and treat yourself as a beginner again. You don’t have to pressure yourself to '“always be great” and “always be doing the hardest most complex thing you can do.” It’s ok, and even awesome to fall in love with the basics all over again. There is something kind of freeing about being able to just focus on some of the ground work.
Basics are “simple, not easy”. Mastery of the basics, no matter what your hobby is, will always, always serve you well. Take art. So many artists I know do warm ups just drawing lines and circles. If you’re working out, just practicing your form and doing body weight exercises can be as much of a workout as lifting 200 lbs. (I’ve been more sore from certifications where I had to just use a PVC pipe than I have been from heavy lifting days). If you’re writer, it’s ok to practice writing different things or short stories or small snippets of story, If you’re a martial artist, practicing the basics of a punch, or even just simple footwork can teach you than the jumping spinning roundhouse to back kick fancy flashy movement.
I won’t belabor the point. Give yourself permission to be a beginner again and focus on the basics and magical things will happen.
Till next time dear reader, get back to some of the basics of your hobby, especially if you’re feeling stuck, and see what happens! <3 Tiff
