Control Issues? No…ok, maybe.
Heather made a great comment the other day in RX about a very difficult maneuver that I found very profoundly important in my journey through the 13-week RX program. She said very simply, ” This is all about control.” Now, you can take that completely out of context if you don’t know what we were working on at that moment. She had us all precariously balanced (well, at least my situation was precarious, I don’t know about anyone else, I was a little busy to look) with our front foot in our TRX straps and on our toes of our back foot to swing forward into the splits and pull ourself back up, all the while trying not to hold onto the strap at all. I don’t know if I really can explain well enough for you to get a good picture of this, but the word “splits” should do a pretty good job of illustrating just how precarious my situation was for my groin and other various muscles, not to mention my pride! She was so right! It really was all about control. To succeed at this exercise, which actually became one of my favorites, all you need to do is listen to your body about where the control was needed and make the small adjustments to keep your balance in check while controlling your muscles that were being worked to push out and pull back in. If for even a second you let go of that control and tight hold of your core, you potentially could end up with a very embarrassing situation of being sprawled on the floor. Ouch.
It occurred to me that what she said so eloquently might be a perfect statement to be coupled with my epiphany from a couple of weeks ago. I finally figured out that being healthy is in the details, and deeper than that, it is all about control. Think about it. You have to control what you eat, because your body betrays you into wanting what you shouldn’t have. You have to control your desire to go home instead of working out like you had planned earlier when you had energy. You have to control what your kids eat because these are the formative years of their lives where you are teaching them either good or bad habits. If you don’t step up to that challenge to control what you are doing in a minute to minute basis, you are not going to succeed in the goals you set forth in a purposeful manner. Even if you are thinking you aren’t controlling what you are doing, and so you decide to go to Taco Bell for lunch, you are still controlling what you are doing by making a bad decision. So why not use that control and just make the next right decision? It’s just as much work to make a bad decision, that’s what is so funny.
So, whether you thought you were a control freak or not, you get to be now. Use it to your advantage!
