Effective ways to bounce back after slipping up
Human nature is one of the biggest deciding factors between the life we live and the one that we want to live. We often see targeted programs advertised to people that are trying to change their lives. The programs generally promise quick and lasting results for a myriad of issues such as weight loss/gain, substance abuse, etc. Those of us who do not want to make use of these programs might be quick to disregard them, but a majority of the population tends to fall prey to them simply because our human nature makes it incredibly difficult to change things and thus makes a unique niche for such products/programs. Imagine how difficult it must be to overcome our own natures, that we go out looking for help for things like waking up and exercising.
Do you often find yourself lamenting over the way your life is going at any given point? Do you make plans to change things? Do you find it incredibly difficult to make a difference? If yes, you’re not alone. Change is just as tricky as it is essential. It can apply to our lives in common things like changing the way we look and work to significant events such as beating illnesses such as addiction. It takes about 66 days to turn action into a habit. It seems like a deceptively short time frame to do something consistently, and it is indeed deceptive. Consistency is tough, and we often find ourselves falling off the wagon midway, if not sooner. Slipping up is very subjective. Depending on your goal, slipping up can be a minor inconvenience or a major train wreck. Regardless of the context, one thing that you can always count on is the ability to start over. No matter how severe of a setback you think you’ve suffered, you can always go back and start again.
A very common reason people give for letting go of their new habits or changing lifestyles is having a slip-up and then allowing it to turn to a spiral till they’re at the point of no return. It is primarily a result of being taught that mistakes are unforgivable. The conditioning makes us unforgiving towards ourselves and makes us less likely to try again once we perceive failure. Learn to forgive yourself. You must become gentle towards yourself and be accommodating of your humanity. Failing once does not take away from your worth or potential as a person. You can still try a second, third, or even a hundredth time; try till you succeed. Learn not to be ashamed of the number of tries or the time it takes to achieve things. Some failures preceded every success in the world; they exist even if we don’t talk about them. Remember that and keep going regardless of how many times you have to start again.
An effective habit to help combat loss of confidence following a slip-up is admitting and acknowledging your mistakes. Don’t make excuses for what has happened. Identify the problem and find ways to avoid it in the future. Nothing in life is absolute, and it is a good idea to always remember that. Neither failure nor success is permanent, and you should always continue to try and achieve your goals. The more you focus on the solution, the better you’ll get at whatever you’re trying to do.
A lot of us lose confidence if we don’t immediately succeed at something. This mentality makes it difficult for us to learn things. Learn to give yourself time and space to learn things. If you put undue pressure to be perfect on yourself, you don’t leave space for error. No one is perfect, and this thought process only sets you up for failure. It is normal not to succeed immediately, so even if you slip up and miss your workout, or something similar, don’t fret and simply start again.
The most enormous disservice you can do yourself is not taking chances in life. You will fail at 100% of the tasks you don’t try. If you feel like one failure is enough to get you to give up entirely, then you’ll indeed fail. The only way not to fail is to keep trying despite falling off the bandwagon and remembering that things don’t always stay the same. In the future, you will remember this failure that seems so impossible to overcome right now and think of it fondly. Learn from your mistakes and shortcomings so that you can get better every single day.
It is normal to fail sometimes. It is perfectly alright for you to fall short of perfection sometimes. It is okay to fall off the wagon sometimes, just so long as you pick yourself up and start again. Keep your progress and your setbacks to yourself, and keep moving towards your goals quietly. Nobody needs to know your business except you and your loved ones. Not everyone will be happy or supportive about your journey, so it is your job to preserve your time and energy for people and things that aid in the betterment of your life. Not everyone deserves to be kept in the loop about your life. Once you realize this, you’ll find yourself being less anxious about your failure and successes.
The conclusion is that slipping up really isn’t as big of a deal as we make it out to be. You can always start again, so long as you keep your goal in sight. It doesn’t matter how many times you have to start from scratch. What matters is that you eventually get where you want to go. So, slip up, fall, and get back up again. The only thing you shouldn’t do is give up.