The other day, while talking to my husband about eating healthier, I heard myself say a phrase that I've been saying a lot: "It's just so hard because . . . " And then I fill in a myriad of excuses.
It's hard to eat healthy because it's easier to grab the chips than make a healthy snack.
It's hard to train for a triathlon because of my busy schedule.
It's hard to read my Bible more because I'm so tired by the end of the day.
It's hard to improve my skills at work because my hours have been cut and there just isn't enough time.
Reasonable excuses? Not really. They are just excuses. What I'm doing is giving myself an allowance to fail. To continue on with how things are. A reason to be lazy.
Think about it.
Is it really that hard to eat a healthier snack than junk food? No. Not at all. It's not any more physically demanding to grab some veggies and hummus over a bag of chips.
Is it really that hard to read my Bible more? I read all the time. I just need to set one of my novels down for a few minutes and read the Bible.
Is it really that hard to train for a triathlon? Well, yeah, but I'm used to that. If I really want to pursue that, all I need to do is to switch to AM workouts to allow for a consistent training schedule.
I can do all these things and more, it's really not that difficult. But once I get into a debate with myself, I've already lost. I let myself think that there are hurdles that don't really exist. I can satisfy myself by saying that I'm trying and I can comfort myself when I fail by saying that it was just too hard.
The truth is, Yoda was right: "Do or do not . . . there is no try."
It's just that simple.
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