Falling off your routine does not mean you failed. It means you are human, and life got in the way for a while. If you are staring at your own comeback right now, wondering how to actually start again, I want you to know you are in good company today.
What these last few weeks have looked like for me
I have had a stretch of hard weeks. Some of it has been the ordinary weight of midlife, when you are holding the loss of a parent, or aging parents, and grown children, and your own body, and your own heart all at the same time. Some of it has simply been me, completely preoccupied with personal things, distracted, and busy in that way that swallows a whole day without you ever noticing it happening, until I realized I had not made myself a priority for even 30 minutes of it. With all of that going on, my daily habits fell away. The workouts stopped. The routines that usually keep me feeling good got pushed aside, one day at a time, until I looked up and realized I had been gone from myself for a while, and I knew I needed to come back.
Why I am choosing small wins again
Here is what I know for certain. I feel like myself when I move my body. Not because it makes me look a certain way, but because of what it does for my mind. When I show up for a workout, even a short one, something in me sparks. I think more clearly. I am kinder to the people I love. That feeling is worth chasing again, and I refuse to let a few off weeks turn into a few off months.
So I am starting where I always tell you to start, with one small win instead of a total overhaul. I recently picked up a set of live 30 minute workouts I can do Monday through Friday, taught by someone who feels real and human on the screen instead of unreachable. It is realistic enough to actually fit into a full day, which is the only kind of plan that has ever worked for me long term.
This is exactly the same philosophy behind my Your Plan For Today tool and the 3-Win Daily Momentum Workshop. You do not need to change your whole life in one weekend. You need one small win today, then another tomorrow, until momentum starts carrying you instead of you having to force it every single time.
Also, Let’s Talk About Leggings
For many reasons, the only pants I actually enjoy wearing anymore are leggings. Between past c-sections and the menopause pounds that seem to collect right in that same spot, real pants stopped feeling good a while back. Leggings are not technically pants, I know, but I feel good in them, and when I feel good, I look good. That is really the whole formula at this point in life. My favorite pair right now is any color and length of these CRZ YOGA Butterluxe Leggings from Amazon. They’re not too thick and not too thin, with support in exactly the places I need it. They work for the workouts, and honestly, throw on a tunic sweater and some cute sneakers or boots with them and you are dressed enough for the rest of your day too.
You do not need a perfect plan, just a next step
There is no version of this where you get to skip the falling off part. It happens to every single one of us, and it will probably happen again. The goal was never to become someone who never struggles. The goal is to become someone who knows how to come back to herself without spiraling into shame first.
If you are in a season where you have fallen off whatever routine used to hold you together, I am not going to tell you to push through with willpower alone. I am going to tell you the same thing I am telling myself this week. Pick one small win. Just one. Let it be enough for today.
If you want a gentle place to start, I built a free 3 day challenge for exactly this moment called 3 Days to Feel Like Yourself Again. It is short, it is doable, and it was made for women who are standing right where you are right now. Click to join me here.
If today is the day you decide to take your own next step, Your Plan For Today was built for exactly this. It starts by asking you one honest question, what kind of day is this actually going to be, a good day, a full day, or a bare minimum day, and then walks you through getting a real win out of whichever one you are in. Some days that looks like several wins. Some days one is genuinely enough. It meets you in the day you are actually having instead of asking you to meet a plan that was never built for it.
