Choose Your Hard

I sometimes have the hardest time getting out of bed in the morning to work out. Sooooo hard. It sometimes feels like my bed is keeping me captive, especially on mornings when I haven’t slept great the night before, but I know it will make getting in that workout even harder if I stay in bed and try and catch some more Zzzzzs. Which, let’s be honest, doesn’t usually happen anyway. So, most mornings, I force myself out of bed, even though I still 150% do not want to get up, and I 150% do not want to go to our basement gym or outside to work out even though I actually enjoy working out, I know that it will make me feel better, and I’m always so grateful I did it when I’m done.

Why not work out later, you wonder, especially since I work from home? Good point. However, I’ve discovered the hard way that when I don’t work out first thing in the morning, the day gets busy, and that workout keeps getting put off farther and farther into the day, which means it might not even happen.

So, when I have this morning struggle—or any struggle, actually, I try to remember these three powerful words:

Choose Your Hard.

Life is full of hard choices. Some need to be made daily, and if those hard choices aren’t made each day, the consequences can be much harder later on. Choose hard now, or live with harder later. It’s a choice. This is especially true where health and fitness are concerned. Having a healthy body is foundational for pretty much anything I want to do now or decades from now.

In addition to working out, here are some of my other sometimes-hard daily choices, and I think a lot of us deal with these hard choices. What would you add to this list?

• It’s sometimes hard to stick to my healthy eating plan because I want to eat all of the chocolate. Or Oreos. Or ice cream. Or brownies with chocolate chips. Because why would you not add chocolate chips?!?!
• It’s sometimes hard to go to bed at a decent time so I can get up and have a productive day.
• It’s sometimes hard to do all of the other things I know I need to do and should do.
• It’s sometimes hard to start a project that’s a bit daunting even though I know very well that simply starting is the key to eventually finishing.
• It’s sometimes hard to not click “Buy Now” on Amazon.

But I do know these things to be true with hard things:

• It will be hard to have good health later if I don’t choose the hard things now.
• It will be hard to do the active things I want to do later if I don’t choose the hard things now.
• It will be hard to chase my grandkids (and even my great grandkids!) around years and decades from now if I don’t choose the hard things now.
• It will be hard to do all of the traveling we want to do now and later in life if I don’t choose the hard things now—where health and fitness and our finances are concerned.
• It will be hard to meet deadlines if I don’t work on projects beforehand, not to mention the stress I know I’ll feel from putting things off.

Life—all areas of my life— will simply be way more stressful and difficult if I don’t choose to do the hard things now.

And here’s another thing: If I don’t Choose My Hard now, I won’t have as much control over making the hard things easier later on.

So…

• I can choose to work out 5 days a week (that’s my goal), and yes, some days it’s really hard. But I am so grateful I have a healthy body so I CAN work out.
• I can choose to eat healthy now so I can have a healthy body now and for years to come. And yes, I do eat healthy most of the time. I follow the 80/20 rule: 80% healthy foods and 20% not-as-healthy foods. It’s called balance. And I’m so thankful for all of the healthy food choices I do have.
• I can choose to get more sleep so that my body and my mind are healthy and able to do the things I need and want to do. This is a super hard one for this night owl, but I’m working on it.
• I can choose to not get that thing on Amazon now. That’s what wish lists and “Save for Later” are for….they give me the opportunity and the space to make sure I’m making wise purchases.
• I can choose to do one thing on a project, which very often leads to the next thing, and then the next, until before I know it, it’s done! Starting really is the hardest part!

On those days when I’m faced with choosing whether or not I’ll do hard things, I try to remind myself that anything I choose to do that’s hard—even if it’s a tiny, simple thing—is way better than doing nothing. And I’ll be so grateful I did that little hard thing later.

What’s something that’s hard for you? Just remember…

Choose Your Hard.