Two weeks ago, when I was obsessed with moving my 14 pounds, I bought a small mini-stepper to help me burn extra calories. (I never used a stepper of any kind before). For 5 days straight I jumped on that thing and stepped frantically for 30 minutes each day. Until Saturday came. Saturday was “put the yard away for winter day”, a day I usually enjoy spending with my husband, hoisting lawn furniture and returning the garage back to a garage from the summer room it’d been for 6 months. My calf muscles and behind my knees hurt so bad with every step I took. When I bent down, I felt like my knees were swollen, and for the first time in my life I had to grab onto something to get back up. I groaned and grimaced my way through the day, taking more ibuprofen than I did all year.
And, after all that, do you know I actually had to think all day Sunday whether or not I should get back on that stepper on Monday? Do you believe it? I actually had to DECIDE not to, even though I was too crippled to hardly walk. I did decide not to do any extra exercise all week, and just go to yoga everyday to heal the damage I did by jumping into something new so fast and almost really hurting myself. Point is, I actually contemplated repeating the same action the second week expecting a different result. Insanity.
Today, Sunday two weeks later, my legs are all better and I made a new plan. I’m going to start all over by doing it for 15 minutes every other day and build up to it. I have to take smaller steps and change my action in order to get different results.
Sooooo…..this week’s study is Power in Action. Changing the things I can change. Taking smaller steps and being more patient.
“Inertia is powerful force. So is compulsive behavior. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, writes Earnie Larson. Putting values into action takes courage and hard work.”
And so, as another day goes by, I ask God to help me change the things I can and realize sometimes it’s the smaller steps that make the biggest difference, and ….I have written.
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