How to Handle “Hitting a Wall” With Your Goals
March 8, 2021
After a full year of being in a pandemic, I think a lot of us are hitting a wall in this final stretch. Between social distancing, quarantining, and endless amounts of waiting, I know most of us are ready for the world to return to some version of normal. Back in March of 2020, most of us were trying to make the most of the time spent at home, but after a year of isolation, a real gym or a coffee shop probably looks pretty good!
If you feel like you’re hitting a wall, you’re not alone and you’re not wrong for needing a break.
On November 1st, I committed to walking 8,000 steps everyday. I made a goal to get to 100 days because I love a challenge that really pushes me. However, on day 98, I woke up to 7 degree weather here in Boston–and yep, that’s in Fahrenheit! I had been going strong for SO long, but I just couldn’t imagine bundling myself up and getting outside. I wanted so badly to make my 100 day streak, but just two days short of my goal, I didn’t know if I had the will to do it.
Whatever aspect of life you’re going through, at some point, you’re going to hit a wall. There will come a day when you just have to sit yourself down and agree that whatever goal you’re trying to reach just isn’t going to happen that day. It will seem frustrating to put a temporary halt on your progress, but trust me–it’s completely normal, and it’s okay!
Allowing yourself to take a break when you’ve been going strong is really challenging. AND, giving yourself a day off is part of our Eat, Move, and Recharge Formula, and it’s important that we pay attention to recharging even when it doesn’t feel like progress.
It's great to give yourself breaks whenever you need one, but there are days that will come where you have a task that must be completed even though you aren’t really feeling it. When this happens, you’ll have to give yourself some options for the best way to get the job done without feeling overloaded. When I realized it was going to be an extremely cold day for a walk, I considered the two options I had. I knew that I could always just walk on my treadmill instead of getting outside, but my FitBit doesn’t do a great job of recording my steps on a treadmill. Secondly, I could break up my steps into a few short walks around the block so that I wasn’t outside in the cold for one solid chunk of time. I chose the second option of tweaking my routine so that I didn’t mess up my streak!
When you hit a wall but still have responsibilities to attend to, you have a decision to make. You can choose to give yourself a well deserved break and take the day off when you need it. That’s perfectly okay, and it’s important to rest and recharge! Your other option is to figure out a way to push through. Like any big goal we set for ourselves, breaking your task up into small chunks makes following through with achieving it so much easier. After all, the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. ;)
Decide how much of your goal you can successfully manage within that day, and give yourself permission to only do that much! You can always pick back up and accomplish more tomorrow, so give yourself as much grace as needed.