Learn to use "what if" as a tool


By Shannon Osborne R


aise your hand if you’ve ever set a New Year’s resolution.


Raise your hand if you haven’t kept it. *All hands raise*


You’re in good company. New Year’s or not, almost everyone has set a goal or an intention and lost sight of their vision. Everyone has intended on doing something and then ended up not doing that very thing. Or, doing it for a while, then giv- ing up. Or, thinking about doing that one thing, but never following through.


Let’s break this down even further.


Raise your hand if you’ve ever been really motivated and inspired to fi nish a project, or a report - you sit down at your laptop, furiously type for 5 minutes…only to fi nd yourself watching the 7th in a row “dog overwhelmed with happiness when soldier dad comes home from war” video on Face- book 40 something minutes later.


We. Are. Distracted. Our brain has too


many tabs open. And whether we realize it or not, it affects every area of our lives. To stay on target and to avoid writing a 16- page dissertation, I’ll keep this within the context of movement and fi tness.


It’s worth it to note that when I say fi t-


ness, I don’t mean the way you look in your bathing suit or the number on your scale. I want to be clear here, that I am speaking in terms of how you feel. The physical benefi t is just that, a benefi t, and it will fl uctuate and change with your life. The baseline is feeling strong. Everything changes after that. Exercise and movement are a celebration of what your body can do, and how good you can make yourself feel, not a punishment for something you ate.


It’s easy to get motivated and pump


ourselves up for this massive change in our lives. We actually do it on a micro-level all the time. Despite our best efforts, motiva- tion falls off, and so do we. It can become an unrelenting cycle.


16 ELM™ Maine - November/December 2018


Why? Stick with me here, I’ve got a couple theories.


My fi rst theory is that it’s not our fault. From the time we were young kids,


pretty much everyone around, regardless of their age, has been consuming some form of media since they were young. Maga- zines and radio shows, which would later become TV shows and the internet, has turned into this constant barrage, an all- encompassing media machine designed to convince you of one thing: YOU’RE NOT LIVING UP.


Sound a little harsh? Think about this


for a moment. What would happen to these huge companies if all of a sudden every- one decided they might be okay as they are and they don’t need products to like themselves? There’s a lot of talk about how people tend to only show their “highlight reel” of life - the perfect vacation photo (no shade here), or a shot of a perfectly planned and executed baby gender reveal party (so


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