3 Things to Remember When Trying to Get Back On Track

My Temporary Conclusion of 75 Hard

In my head I saw this blog post going entirely different. I was going to make a whole progress picture montage with some thrilling mid-workout selfies mixed in, a couple uber aspirational quotes, an intensely motivational soundtrack... 

Instead, I failed the challenge. Technically. But I'm no failure.

Have you heard of 75 Hard? It's a mental toughness challenge that's been reprogramming my mindset since January 30th. It looks like this every single day for 75 days straight:

I had put in 116 workouts (half were outside in freezing temperatures, rain, snow, wind), downed at least 59 gallons of water, read 8.5 self help books, stuck to intermittent fasting without a single unauthorized bite, and had spent 59 days stone cold sober, when I bowed out of the challenge.

My amazing father-in-law unexpectedly passed away and nothing else mattered besides being there for my family. No regrets. To me, it wasn't a failure.

But now what? My family is still in crisis survival mode and I've taken more than one ugly ride on the booze bus. After so long doing so good, the guilt is real. Especially knowing that falling off the rails does nothing to honor my father-in-law's memory, I need to get my shit together. It's not the right time for me to dive into another intense commitment like 75 Hard (though I will accomplish and cross that one off my goals list in another season) but I'm not throwing away the positive shifts I made either.

Three things I'm trying to remember:

1. It's not all or nothing. Just because I'm not working out twice a day doesn't mean I can't be proud of getting in one workout or even just a couple push-ups before bed.

2. You can have grit AND grace. Beating myself up for not being a full-blown badass every day doesn't help my self-esteem, which leads to further spiral. I can work hard but also have grace for myself when some days just breathing takes everything I have (and it is enough).

3. If you don't quit, you haven't failed. Now isn't the time for me to be self-absorbed in personal development for hours every day. But if I hold onto the smaller healthy habits, I haven't failed or quit. I've merely modified for the season. I don't have to go the whole way back to square one, who I was before attempting 75 Hard.

The 75 Hard community is pretty hard core, allowing NO excuses for failure. I really liked that about it, real commitment and follow-through to develop confidence, grit, discipline, and self-belief. Because I didn't complete the challenge, I'm feeling the opposite of all of those admirable characteristics. But I'll be back. I'll master this challenge when the season is right. This is a public proclamation to hold myself accountable.

We can do anything we set our minds to, sometimes it just takes a couple tries.

Drop a comment if you're interested in completing 75 Hard. Maybe we can get a Mermaid Walking support/accountability group together.