It’s Never Too Late!

Anyone else love the sentiment behind the lyrics of Heather Small’s 2001 hit single, Proud? The song is all about changing for the better after reflecting on what she has been through, but what really hits home is the line that comes after the question “What have you done today to make you feel proud?”. It is beautiful in its simplicity and also very profound. And it is something that I espouse time and again: It’s never too late to try.

In the same way that this newsletter has championed starting to exercise no matter what age you are, and that it is never too late to start, Heather Small tells us that it is never too late to try to make changes for the better.

And those changes do not have to be big or all encompassing. In fact it is far better that they are small.

The old adage about biting off more than you can chew holds true for attempting to make changes with regard to your health and fitness. Trying to change too many things at once, especially large changes, can quickly lead to failure as you struggle to implement them when faced by life: your friends who have invited you around for dinner, your children keeping you awake for hours, and many other things that crop up in day to day life.

Starting small on the other hand with easily achievable “wins” is something that we can all do, and feel proud about as we do them.

The trouble is, we are led to believe that only big changes are worth the effort, and as a species we are inherently impatient. Both of these things conspire to hinder our motivation, along with stories in the media, traditional and social, of super quick transformations. Which in turn leads to “Why isn’t my change happening as quickly as theirs?”, followed by “I must be doing something wrong.” and then “It’s not worth it!” and ultimately “I’m quitting!”.

Sadly, you probably weren’t doing anything wrong. Meaningful change takes time, and the phrase I will keep on saying over and over, probably until my last breath: “Slow and steady wins the race.”

But hang on! What about those success stories in the media you talked about just now?

Yep. There are odd outliers who can change their body quickly, but more often than not they aren’t telling the whole truth, as there may well be severe calorie restriction taking place, which is not healthy. Or there may well be the use of steroids – again not particularly healthy. Just remember that if the person in the “success story” is selling a product or workout regime, there may well be an element of disingenuity happening. Smoke and mirrors anyone? Don’t get me started on how they do before and after photos! (now there’s an idea for a future newsletter…)

So start now and start small – it’s never too late to start. Get the process down. Celebrate every win that comes along and feel proud about what you have achieved. Doing an extra rep, or lifting a little bit more weight, or sticking to your new eating regime for a week, or getting an extra workout in when you didn’t think you’d have time: these are all wins! You don’t need to stomp around, high-fiving everyone you see. Just a nod and a smile to yourself in the mirror, acknowledging what you have done to make yourself feel proud.

If you are not sure where or how to start, please ask for help. Click the gold button right under this paragraph and get a chat with me booked in the diary. Let’s start to make you feel proud of what you are doing to be stronger, fitter, leaner and healthier.