A lot of people have tried to change their unhealthy lifestyles into healthy ones – whether it is changing the way they eat or starting a new exercise regimen, the goal is the same: becoming a healthier, stronger, happier person.
Without fail, those people stumble; they fall off the wagon and pig out on junk food, smoke a pack of cigarettes or sit on the couch for a week. An overwhelmingly large percentage of those people will then decide that they’ve failed in their attempt to change and meekly go back to their unhealthful ways.
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Cue open palm slap to forehead!
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I’m here to tell you that stumbling is good; that failure is the path to success. If you don’t fall off the wagon early on in your attempt to change, then you’re doing a disservice to yourself.
As humans we need to overcome obstacles. The greater the obstacle, the greater the satisfaction when we achieve our goal; the more precious we feel our accomplishments.
If change were always easy, it wouldn’t be worth it. So when we fail for an hour, a day, or a week, we are only adding to the greatness of our eventual success.
And that is what we MUST believe in – our eventual success. Because whether you fail for an hour or a day or a week, if you can get back up, dust yourself off and begin moving forward again toward that goal of a healthier, stronger, happier you, then you are not defeated.
Am I espousing purposeful failure? Heavens No!!! But I am advocating not giving in to failure; not being afraid of failure – because I believe that ultimately you must fail to truly succeed.
If you fall of your wagon, grab your totem, take a deep breath and start anew.
Run Luau Run 
Thanks for a good reminder – needed that today. 🙂
Falling off and slipping into old habits also reminds me how crummy I always felt before and can motivate me to pick it back up, and earlier than I might have been planning.
did you have to write this today of all days? i’m on day 9 of no cardio. i’m pretty sure it’s b/c of the beginning of the school year and a slight issue with my ASD son, but we both know that’s not a good excuse. i feel better and have more energy when i get my cardio, so actually, it’s important now more than ever. i was doing a great job of pretending not to notice that i’m becoming stagnant, before i read this. dang it. (yes, i know, i’ll be glad later. but right now, dang it.)