Hello again friends!

Tonight as I am typing my laundry sits wadded up in the laundry basket, my refrigerator is on E and my car is in the shop.. in short I feel like the most undone version of myself (which makes me slightly uptight.) Somehow I feel like fully embracing my chaos will help with the message I want to share tonight, so if you must know my toenails are naked and my to do list for tomorrow is already several sticky notes long.

I titled tonight’s blog ” All or nothing” because most of my life this is exactly how I would have described myself.

Either I am eating no carbs.. or only stuffed crust pizza.

Either I am working out every day or you couldn’t pay me to go to the gym.

Either I am doing it PERFECTLY or not at all.

Can you relate? I think most people can. This verse in Luke reminds me that it doesn’t have to be “all or nothing” but instead “all or something,” Luke 16:10 says: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much..” I have thought of this verse often as I struggle to redefine what discipline, consistency and success mean to me. The world tries to convince us that doing more, having more, being more all while being instagram worthy is the only way. But like Romans 12:2 says “do not to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” we have to THINK differently to get different results.

Earlier this week I was talking with a friend and she was explaining how she has found fresh momentum and is ready to get after some health and fitness goals! Her words were “I walked almost 3 miles today, not a lot, but it’s a start.” She has big goals and I can relate with how hard it is to muster up the effort, courage, and self pep talk to START .. because it’s DIFFICULT in those moments of awkward gym experiences, uncomfortable ankle blisters or giving up your favorite TV show to go for a 3 mile walk to remember WHY you started.

With any goal I believe whole heartedly that the quickest way to victory is in the small consistent (the ones that feel like “does this even matter?”) actions. A lot of times when I am coaching someone who desires to see change but are in a difficult season of life they will say something like “well I am really busy this month so I am not going to work out or eat right because I just don’t have time… but as soon as life slows down I will.” Now, before you get defensive.. I get it. ME TOO. My life is often nuts.. my plans frequently change.. my desire to do what I said I was going to do drops significantly after 3pm. However, goals can’t be met on a “when I feel like it” basis… and certainly, results can’t be kept that way either.

This is an area of life that I am really focusing on.. and by focusing I mean struggling to change and with the least amount of grace possible. I really never considered changing the way I got things done until I heard a friend last winter say that you should have a “no matter what.” At the time I was struggling to do anything consistently, my goal was to see my muscle definition again but I would commit to the gym for 2 days, feel frustrated, eat pizza and then mope. It was after I heard about this concept of a “no matter what” that things changed for me.

The basic idea was that instead of setting a billion expectations for the day and then not getting enough accomplished and going to bed feeling disappointed you would choose a “no matter what this day looks like I will…( fill in the blank) before I go to bed.” She used the example of 10 push-ups. I decided to do a push-up challenge where you increase the amount of pushups each day, so day one I literally did ONE PUSH-UP.. you know the weirdest part? I felt oddly proud when I went to bed after that 1 push-up. I think mostly because I wasn’t sure I could even do one.. but also because I did what I said I was going to do!  There is power in being a woman of your word, not sure about that? TRY IT!

This new way of thinking changed things for me because I saw my end goal from the beginning but I felt like a winner along the way! I can now do 40 push-ups.. can other people do lots more?..probably… but that doesn’t matter much to me, I’m a woman of her word who finished what she started.

So maybe you’re in a similar place where some decisions need to be made and some action needs to happen? I think the best thing for you do to is to START.. right now.. tonight, before your head hits the pillow you have to draw a line in the sand and decide that NO MATTER WHAT you will (fill in the blank.) Here’s the beautiful part, it doesn’t have to be crazy or big or mean anything to anyone but you. If you said you were going to start praying more, tonight is the night. If you said you were going to start working out then tonight you better get in action. It doesn’t have to be big to lead to big change.

maybe your prayer is “hey, remember me.. it’s been a while.”  CHECK- you did it!

maybe your workout is a 30 second plank..CHECK- You’re on a roll!

You are ONE decision away from life looking different… and think about it, if you do 10 sloppy, ugly, down right sad push-ups tonight.. when you wake up in the morning you my friend are already “someone who works out!”

You can do this, whatever “this” is for you. Start right where you are, with what you have, and do what you CAN….. if you do that you’ll look up one day and realize you’ve being “really doing it” for much longer than you ever imagined you could!

All my love & Encouragement,

Cara