What did you say?? Hush.

By Ramese Long

“This is who I am.”…”I’m so fat.”…”I hope I lose weight.”

Do those sound like the words of someone determined to reach a goal or someone who is scared to try? Year after year I hear the same things consistently from various clientele, which has led me to believe most of us are too scared to try because of fear of failure.

Too nervous to ask for a raise or start your business? Afraid to tell that special someone how you really feel about them? Apprehensive about walking in the gym for fear of public ridicule?

All of us at one point or another have felt this way to varying degrees. With that being said, the next step when you’re fearful is justification and rationalization. You will do or say whatever you need to so the pain of not trying (or quitting) will be minimum. I ask you this — are you really minimizing potential pain or creating much more by not telling yourself the hard truth?

Words have power…you know this. So, why would you continue to talk yourself out of something that you really want to achieve? How can you expect a positive outcome when you’ve scared yourself so much you’re now afraid to give 100 percent effort or any effort at all? Do you have your running shoes on to confront the issue or runaway?

“What if I start this business and it fails” Isn’t the next step to tell yourself you‘re “happy where you are?”

“What if I become vulnerable and open up emotionally in this relationship?” Do you tell yourself you rather be alone anyway?

“What if I don’t get in shape?” Are you thinking of settling at this point by saying this is who you are?

What’s the point of trying to reach a goal when you’re coming up with excuses before you’ve started? We are all adults and it’s time to start acting as such. The excuses and justifications may feel valid, but go ahead and do a high dive because you will survive, thrive and improve.

Watch the words that come out of your mouth because the doubtful and negative things you say about yourself will continue to feed and reinforce your fears when things get tough. With that being said, here is your assignment for this week: Every time you say something out of fear with regard to you achieving your fitness goal, I want you to drop and do 10 pushups no matter where you are. Work, home, Starbucks, etc. This process makes you aware of what you’re thinking and saying. You will begin to see how you really feel about getting in shape and how often you may (or may not) reinforce yourself with fearful thoughts.

Let’s see if you’re too fearful to drop anywhere and give me 10!

Do not quit. Trust me. Go! Do someTHIN!