I Messed Up | Day 10 of 30

I knew this was probably going to happen so I had built in coping mechanisms into this challenge in case this really happened and because of that, I am not going to beat myself up about it.

I messed up!

One Day 8, I returned from work all tired and grumpy, with my body aching, knowing that I was heading into some flu-like illness. The symptoms were there all day and as I struggled to sit at work towards the end of the day, I just knew it.

I got home after picking up some food on the way and all I wanted to do was curl up on my bed and watch something.

In hindsight, I could have just eaten my food and gone to bed but I didn’t.

Instead, I turned on my laptop, got on Amazon Prime Video and clicked on a TV show. I was so tired and exhausted and quite frankly sick that I just sat there in front of that lit up screen, processing nothing. I just sat there, staring at the flickering images in front of my eyes.

4 or 5 episodes in, I went to bed.

The bad news is, I messed up this 30-day no video challenge I am on.

The good news is, that is okay.

Now, I am usually someone who is wary of the ‘that’s okay’ attitude because I know I have used it way too many times to get away with not being disciplined enough or productive enough, but I also know that this time I was quite serious about what I wanted to achieve with this challenge and the fact that I was physically sick was the only reason I gave in to temptation. I just didn’t have any energy to resist.

So, the next day I went right back into the challenge. I didn’t say, “It doesn’t really matter. I’ve already lost the challenge.” I didn’t say,”I can’t do this. I’m too weak.” I didn’t say, “I’m going to give up.” I just got up the next day and went about my life as if I was still on the challenge and will be for what’s remaining of the next 30 days. That was my coping mechanism and it worked.

Now, its Day 10 and I haven’t wanted to watch ANYTHING even though I still haven’t recovered fully from my illness. Now, that’s progress! Hope this inspires you to keep going even if you mess up.

See you on Day 15.