Being in Time: Consistent in my Present

Hello Dear Friends,

A closed tap can never fill a bucket but drops of water eventually will.

I thought I’d start us off with that corny, but true, quote.

So, in the last few weeks, we have taken responsibility for our past and removed our fear of the future. Now we have to be consistent in the present.

What does that mean?

Don’t give up on yourself.

The present is a daily battlefield. The opposing sides are your desires for yourself and the externalities of life. The only things that can win this battle are focus and the refusal to stop moving forward.

“It is boring. It is ordinary. It is too difficult. It is pointless. It is too late. It is impossible. It is not worth it. It is too dangerous. I failed the last time. I have tried so many times. I can’t. I have never been able to do this … etc. “

We tell ourselves these things and we stop. But we have to be able to hear these excuses, and say, “thanks very much but no thanks”, and keep it moving. It is the strong foundation in taking responsibility for our pasts and being fearless of our futures - constantly reinforcing them in our lives- that will keep us consistent.

We learn from the past. We don’t blame anybody. So, it does not drag us down. We don’t fear our future because we recognise that we can focus on what we do know and what is real in the present moment. And with these attitudes, we are moving forward.

I am taking this army ROTC physical training class. I don’t run. I can do three minutes of jogging max and I am done. Anyway, in ROTC we have to run… a lot. And the worst is when you have to run with your “squad”. You have to keep up with them because the running doesn’t finish till everyone is done. Anyway, that is how me I carried myself to PT one morning and we had to do a bunch of bodyweight exercises and then run. By the time we got to the run, between us we had done hundreds of pushups (these new military style ones that get your triceps), burpees, squats and sit ups, so we were already fa-tigued! Naturally, within a minute of starting our jog, everyone had gone ahead of me, and then some, but one of the team stayed back with me - as per teamwork. Each time I would slow down to start walking, he would say, “you can go as slow as you want, just don’t stop jogging”. So, I’d break into the slowest jog I could muster for one lap, and then eventually start slowing down into a walk again, then he’d repeat himself “you can go as slow as you want, just don’t stop jogging.” Honestly, I really wanted to die, but I’d continue jogging. Up until that session, all the times I had run, I’d walk one lap, jog one lap, and alternate it like that. So, this constant jogging was a strain on my existence and ability to breathe in general. I had shin splits and officially wanted to collapse. It was just hard, but I kept going. I didn’t finish the eight or whatever laps we had to do, but I continued in my steady pace until class ended. Anyway, fast-forward to two weeks later, we had another circuit with running in it. In thirty seconds, everyone else is ahead of me - normal, but the most amazing thing happened. I didn’t stop jogging the whole time. I just kept going and telling myself “one more lap girl, you can do it. Just one more. Okay you’ve done three, let’s try for one more.” And like that I’d go. It didn’t matter that my team was about to overtake me, and some others had probably overtaken me twice, all that mattered was my focus on putting one step in front of the other and not stopping.

The thing is, at the beginning of the training, I could barely make a full lap, but after showing up each week, my body was getting stronger, and though still slow, my endurance was higher.

This is what consistency does, it grows you and before you know it, you are doing things that you feared you would never do or regretted not being able to do in the past. It ignores everyone else’s pace and focuses on keeping you moving forward. The focus is key.

It is nice when we have people cheering us on and encouraging us. Sometimes we won’t always have that and have to learn to be our own cheerleaders and biggest supports. You just keep moving and saying “one more step, you can do it” and as you take that “one more step” you realise that you can actually do it. So, then you take the next one. And like that you keep moving.

Consistency is a beat. The rhythm can speed up sometimes, slow down sometimes, but the beat is there, and it is constant.

So as the weekend approaches, take the time to develop your beat, your rhythm. Dance, jog, run, skip, walk or drive to it. Just don’t stop moving.

Love,

O.F.P.