ARE YOU PLAYING A CONSTANT GAME OF PING-PONG?

On the one hand, you know how to eat well and how to exercise. You understand the benefits and you want the results. All you want is to be the healthiest version of yourself, to live the life you want and do the things you love. Who wouldn’t want that?

On the other hand, it’s just so easy to fall off the bandwagon, despite what you know and what you want.

And there lies the endless game of ping-pong: that all-or-nothing thinking. All balls to the walls, perfect eating and hitting all your workouts, and then suddenly nothing at all. Not a damn thing.

You might not even realize you are playing ping-pong with yourself. Or maybe you just don’t know how to stop the game.

You already know that it eventually leads to failure. That perfection only leads to nothing on the other end of the spectrum. It doesn’t leave room for the “What if’s?” and unplanned things in life that spring up.

The ping-pong game always starts off slowly. You start off strong with willpower and can resist, resist, resist. You are hitting those balls off the table and crushing it hard! Then slowly you make concessions, new rules and allow one thing in, then the next, then the next. Before you know it, you have lost sight of the real reason why all this is important in the first place. Suddenly, the game is in the tank. Soon enough you are riddled with guilt and shame and feeling like you aren’t strong enough, and further away from your goals than ever. You feel like you can’t win!

We are so conditioned to look at changes in our physique that come from a place of deprivation, exhaustion and misery (enter “The Biggest Loser” here). We want quick results, so the slow, steady and sustainable approach is not as appealing.

But let me ask you this: how is that fast game of ping-pong working for you?

So, what is the answer? It is, of course, finding the sweet spot between ‘all’ and ‘nothing’. It is being okay with slowing the game down and finding an approach that incorporates all components of the health journey: sleep, stress, mindfulness, nutrition, movement etc. It is about asking more questions of yourself and your coach.

The process truly has to be as enjoyable as the results you wish to achieve. Results are just a small part of it, yet we get so fixated on the results that we lose sight of asking “Is this working for me right now? Tomorrow? 10 years from now?” We can get disappointed as we keep looking ahead to more and more results. We call this “destination distinction”, and I know a lot of people suffer from this.

It’s time to let go of that all-or-nothing approach. It’s easier, less exhausting and far less frustrating. Sure, you’ll sacrifice time to get what you want, but in the long run you stop playing the game. Take the lessons and experiences from your life, ask those tough questions and piece together what your ideal approach is; one that allows you to still be you, do what you love, and treat your body with kindness and respect. If you look deep enough, you will know the answer, but years of playing the ping-pong game can just get the best of us.

Coach Cindy