A couple of weeks ago I set a goal for myself to drink less wine. I was going to stick to one glass a day. The day after I set this goal for myself I was driving home from work after a stressful day thinking about how to unwind. I knew I wanted to drink some wine, but I also remembered I had set a goal to drink less. Before I even got home and challenged myself to stick to one glass, I told myself it was OK to change my goal to a higher amount of wine. I was giving up on myself before I even had the chance to fail.
How am I supposed to know whether I can do it if I don’t even try? I realized, I need to challenge myself. If I fail, that’s OK. Failing shows me I challenged myself too much. I can get there eventually, but there’s only one way to find out.
I came to this realization while I was thinking about drinking wine, but I’ve realized I give up on myself early in other aspects of my life too. When I’m working out I tend to give up before I even try certain moves. I tell myself I can’t do it. So how do I get past this challenge?
The only way to get past this challenge is to develop a new thought pattern. Every time my thoughts go to giving up before even trying something, I need to correct the thoughts the second I have them. When I start having negative thoughts about not being able to do something before I’ve even tried, I need to push the thoughts out of my head and try what I just told myself I can’t do. If I can’t do it, that’s fine. I’ll know I need to start smaller. Once I get into the habit of correcting the thoughts immediately, I will have the thoughts less until they eventually go away.
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