It has been a while! If you are reading this, you a real one! I have not been on social media for months & you still found me here. I love you.
“You could’ve been anywhere in the world…but you here wit me. I appreciate that.” - Jay-Z
What have I been up to? A lot (I will share more later) but here’s one major update:
Last week, I completed 75 Hard!
Y’all, it was….hard, and I was tired. But it was a lovely journey, and it truly taught me some life lessons that I will carry with me from now until forever.
Here are my top 7. I hope they resonate. It’s about discipline and commitment overall….not just 75 Hard.
Fresh starts are amazing. Embrace every day 1. Love every Monday. Celebrate every New Year.
Results are probably not coming on day 2. Find intrinsic motivation for the things that you commit to. Many times we get caught up in a specific result not happening as quickly as we would like it to, and therefore, we get discouraged and quit. “I have written two blogs. Why haven’t I gone viral yet?” “I made three on-time payments. Why is my credit score not moving?” “I worked out for two days. Why can’t I see it yet?!” Focus on building discipline, creating sustainable habits, staying true to your word, and pushing past fatigue.
Commit to you FIRST. 75 Hard is….well, hard. It is not the tasks themselves that are hard. It is the ability to commit no matter what. I work full-time, and I am working on my doctoral degree right now. I keep a busy schedule, and as a single person, I am also responsible for everything around the house. I be tired af, okay?! And in the first few weeks of 75 Hard, I got SICK. Extreme flu sick. I had to make a difficult choice then. Do I keep going, or do I give up? Nobody would have faulted me for giving up. I was very sick, and prioritizing my rest during that time would have been understandable. But….I pushed through. So often, as women, we reserve extreme commitment and sacrifice for other people, especially the men in our lives. If that man you like needed you while you were sick, you’d be Johnny on the spot, but when it comes to showing up for yourself, you decide it’s not that important. I can’t wait to show up for my future man. However, I want to give that energy to myself FIRST.
Say no. When you commit to something challenging, you cannot do everything. You have to set some boundaries so that your goals are met. That is it. When I started 75 Hard, I could no longer commit to late-night activities or anything involving alcohol. The friends that really support me understood. My time management required me to say no. My goals required me to say no.
Do it tired. Enough said.
Ignore the negativity. I was surprised by the few people in my life that subtly expressed doubt in my ability to get shit done. When you commit to something and people start to covertly downplay what you’re doing or check in with you to see if you’re still maintaining in a tone that says “I thought you would’ve quit by now”, simply take that as a THEM problem and not a YOU problem. Keep pushing.
Find the joy. I found so many small ways to be joyful while completing my 75 Hard tasks that finishing felt a little sad (just a little bit though....I was ready to be done lol). The outdoor walks in the mornings, the structure to my days, the learning that I did, the new recipes I discovered, the way my body responded to the changes.
Joy. Find it. Create it. It is your birthright.
And because you have read all seven lessons, here are my physical/progress pic results!
(I was taking these pics at 5 in the morning. Never mind the somber face lol).
XOXO,
b