Pushing Into Failure?

Egg lifting weights and the weight fell on it crushing its shell

Have you ever experienced doing something where you pushed things too far resulting in hurting yourself or someone else?

I work with a fitness trainer now. She gave me an exercise to do with my arms which I did every day. When I went back a week later, she wanted to see how I had progressed.

I showed her how I could easily do the exercise with my right arm…but had some pain doing it with my left one.

She explained what I was doing was moving my left arm past a safe range of motion. This was an example of me needing to listen more closely to my body.

Instead of appreciating what I could do and celebrating that…she said I was pushing myself into pain. It was like pushing myself into failure! These were words I needed to hear that day.

It was interesting to experience what followed those words.

I did the exercise again and stopped when I felt the resistance in my arm. It was different. I relaxed, softened into the movement and tried it again…only this time I went farther than I had ever gone before and there was no pain! I was blown away.

She explained because I wasn’t pushing my body like I was, it started to feel safe, could let go of the resistance and now had greater range of motion.

This was a huge life lesson for me; one filled with awareness.

When I left that day I thought if I’m running my energy that way when exercising…where else in my life might I be doing that? I started to pay more attention to the different areas of my life.

Think of the different things you do in your daily life.

Are there times when you’re struggling or in conflict and instead of stopping at the point of resistance you continue to keep struggling?

Are there times when you push yourself too far and hurt something or someone…may it be yourself or another person?

Are there times when you get an inner nudge of resistance, thinking you’re doing things wrong and still do them…maybe pushing yourself into failure?

It’s not uncommon for all of us to do any one of those things. Life is filled with relationships of all kinds.

Remember…this isn’t about not doing them! This is about gaining awareness that we are doing them…and then make new choices if needed.

We can only consciously change what we’re doing when we’re aware we’re doing them. Every experience offers us learning, growing and healing. We get to choose.

Wherever you are on your journey, may you discover what works for you…trust your truth…and find peace inside.