There is no Wagon to fall off of!

 There is no Wagon to Fall off of! 

You've heard the saying a million times. "I've fallen off the wagon." Sometimes its in reference to addiction or to a diet but it's a very familiar euphemism. But what if I told you there is no wagon. You cannot fall off of something that doesn't exist. Let's zero in on the analogy in regards to eating healthy or following a healthy lifestyle. Say you spent 3 weeks eating really well and meal prepped. You even got to the gym a few days each week! Way to go! But then a holiday weekend creeps up and you've been invited to a BBQ and there is so much food! You indulge and since you already screwed up, you might as well go out the next day and get yourself a treat. You deserve it! You've worked hard! And you know what, you also deserve a break, skip that gym date and you can pick back up in a few days. Uh oh, you've caught a cold and now you have no energy to eat well or go back the gym. Looks like the ship is sailing away and the wagon is riding off without you... 

Sound familiar? I felt like I was just writing an autobiography! I went through that pattern multiple times and the more I did it, the more comfortable it became to do it again. But do you know that all of that cascade of events was from 1 singular split second decision? You could have skipped the BBQ or you could have brought your own food or ate before you went! It seems so simple thinking about it now. But in the moment, completely different emotions were flying and even though you are not 16 years old, peer pressure plays a role too. 

There were others at the BBQ and whether they would actually notice if you ate anything or not is really not important. With a health journey, there is only 1 person on that ride. Having a true accountability crowd is like gold and when you surround yourself with supportive people, they get it and will never make you feel bad for not matching their plates. Sometimes we think people really pay attention to everything we do. They don't. Even if they do mention your clothing or your lunch, its just because they are projecting their own insecurities onto you. 

Making one split decision to load up the plate doesn't have to be the end all be all. You can make choices like this and go back right to where you were without guilt or shame. You can acknowledge that you are human and made a choice that made you happy at that time and then get back to your goals without a trail of tears behind you. All of this takes some self discipline. And that comes from a strong WHY. If you have that forefront in your mind and heart than you will find it easier to pivot right back after an event like this. 

Guilt and shame. Two very low frequency emotions. They are both completely voluntary, and you can live your entire life without feeling these two emotions. Sure I felt guilty yesterday for a second when I dropped a bottle at Trader joes (butter fingers ugh) and the poor lady had to clean my mess. But I am not going to let it ruin my day or live in my head for longer than a minute. And shame, we are never going to feel shame again -especially when it comes to our bodies and health. We will feel proud and confident because we can do hard things and we can overcome any obstacle that comes our way! 

Back to the wagon. This analogy implies that some sort of FOMO is happening as if there is a party train leaving you behind. Nobody loves that feeling. So why give that impression to your mind? Maybe it's actually a really really long train and the train is moving so very slow that even if you step off to have a moment, you can literally grab the train a car or two down and get right back on. There is no caboose. The train just keeps going and going and along the way you get to see some beautiful sights in this thing called life. 

Moral of the story: Change the story in your head. 

*Analogies can be slightly adjusted to make more sense and move the guilt and shame away from moments where we made 1 decision. 

*You don't have to slip down the slope of decision making just because one small thing happened. You can get right back on that slow moving train. 

*You are capable of making decisions at any moment that help you move forward and stay on track for your goals because you have a strong and deep why!

Now you get back out there with your head held high and walk with a purpose! You are the master of your own health and you can do anything you set your mind to!