How to Turn Your Lies into True Truth

“Did you make slime,” I asked Stella this morning.

Apparently, she learned how to make this do-it-yourself at-home slime from a friend, and now, I am finding empty bottles of conditioner (?), glue and salt all over the house.

“No,” she said.

I looked at her.  What do you say to that kind of bold-faced lie, especially when the empty bottles are literally rolling around on the floor behind her? Anyway.

Then she sees the mess behind her, shrugs, and says, “Ha! Yes!”

#YoureGrounded  #TakeThat  🙂

Isn’t it funny how, as adults, we do this same kind of trickery?

(Only, it’s usually to ourselves.)

We eat like sh*t, we drink like sh*t, and then we skip our workouts, raising every Excuse Flag in the book–but we are like kids, shrugging our shoulders and claiming:
“I have NO idea why I am not _______” (fill in the blank with the result of your choice:  losing weight, doing my workouts, feeling better, sleeping better, pursuing my dreams).

Here’s the thing. I have been a long-time proponent of giving ourselves grace,  using the tools of forgiveness, and creating attainable goals via useful tools like doses of reality and the Sucky Rotation Schedule.

But I have, over the last two years, come into the world that I like to call reality. And that reality comes from a very real place in MY life. Because I lived there for so long.

I lived in a place of complete self-foolery, excuses and roadblocks—roadblocks that I carefully crafted and built with my own two hands.

I was a master of doing what I thought was “it all” and drinking all the things, pounding all the coffees, and eating all the things (but I was also doing Ironman!), so wasn’t I healthy?

I had a case of head in the sand–and I had it for years (decades.)

But things changed once I was faced with the truth… the True Truth, as I like to call it.

The True Truth  – when you come to the place of honesty with yourself where you have stripped away all the excuses, lies and blame, revealing the changes and actions you must take to live the optimal life that you truly deserve.

I think that many of us know the “truth” (e.g., sugar is ‘bad’ for you, we shouldn’t drink so much (if at all), processed food is a nightmare, etc.)—BUT

…when we are presented with information in such a way that we can no longer ignore it
…when we feel the truth as it relates to our current reality
…when we recognize our role in the truth, that is where the magic starts to happen

That, my friends, is the True Truth.

Someone finally and essentially said to me: Stop Fooling Yourself.

And why is this so life changing?

Because this is SUCH a huge reality for me, and as I am learning, so many of us.

We. Are. Fooling. Ourselves.

We live in a culture of fooling ourselves, and those of us who have begun to break the shackles of fooling ourselves—begin to live in our true light, with freedom that is inexplicable.

Keeping in mind that “hope” is not an action–it’s an emotion; understanding that we can’t “hope” ourselves into a better frame of mind, more health, and success with our performance.   Keeping further in mind that discipline is what matters–not motivation.

Here are few questions to start ourselves, if we are feeling stuck:

1. What do I KNOW that I need to change?
2. What in the world CAN I do about it?
3. What am I WILLING to do?

What do I know that I need to change?

It’s pretty easy to identify the hairy warts that we don’t like about ourselves. We all know what we want to change.

However… the thing that we want changed… is usually the result..

What?

What I mean is that thing that we don’t like is often the result of a chronic behavior, habit or action that we are (repeatedly) doing. These negative actions are causing a negative result—the thing that we need to change.

Identifying the behaviors, habits and patterns that are causing the result is very eye-opening… IF we are willing to be honest.  That is when we find the True Truth about ourselves.

What in the world can I do about it?

We all know this quote: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein

Yet, how many of us have spent months, years and (in my case) DECADES, doing something insanely and expecting different results.  I spent DECADES drinking alcohol, and expecting to have a healthy life because I was doing triathlon and sort of eating well.  Insanity. I spent DECADES eating less-than-ideal foods and expecting to lose fat.  Insanity.

And the craziest part, was that deep down I knew that this behavior was insane. Yet, I stuck my head in the sand and sought other alternatives and other mechanisms to blame for my current state (or states).

The truth of the matter is that we all have the power within us to do exactly what we NEED to do, and exactly what we know we MUST do to effectuate the changes that we need.

I have spent almost two years working on myself (more than that, really), but two honest years… and I have uncovered so many truths, over and over again.

Am I ripped? Nope.

Am I qualifying for Kona? Nope.

But am I the very freaking best version of Meredith Atwood right here and right now, that I can be? You’re damn right, I am.

The sole reason? Because I stripped away the bullshit. I stopped making excuses. I stopped hoping, and I started acting. I stopped getting in my own way.

Do I have it all figured out? Nope.

But in my heart and daily life, I know when I am giving myself excuses.  I know when I am lying to myself.

And that honesty – the True Truth – is what is necessary to move forward.

What am I willing to do?

At the end of the day, this is the question that requires the answer.

Maybe we want to stay stuck because it garners us a shitton of attention on social media.  I have a FB person that I can’t even follow or interact with… her piles of excuses are endless, the blame is endless, the victim-mentality sends me into swirls of crazy.  Post after post after post of victim-mentality BS.  I can’t do it anymore. #unfollow

We ALL have bad days.  We ALL have issues. We ALL make excuses. But when that becomes the LIFE we live? When excuses and drama becomes the legacy? When your Facebook posts are all drama, for all attention?

It’s time to stop. (Or in some cases, time to stop following).

However, the question:  “What am I willing to do” is the key. Because people who are constantly in a state of drama and attention and blame, are willing to do NOTHING.

Excuses:  Tools of incompetence, used to build monuments of nothingness and those who specialize in them seldom accomplish anything.  (As definied by Urban Dictionary)

If the answer to the question is “I am willing to complain and whine,” then nothing will change. So stop being surprised.

But if the answer to the question is “ANYTHING” or “WHATEVER IT TAKES” – then that is when a true shift happens.

All the hope, plans to “do,” and Facebook drama in the world isn’t going to fix the bad behaviors, habits and lies we are telling ourselves.

When we throw ourselves into a state of “I am going to take this life by the horns and do whatever it takes to take myself to where I want to be”—

… when we start to act
… when we stop making excuses
… when we stop blaming

Welcome to the magic.  Things will change.

It won’t be perfect. It won’t be easy.  It also won’t be fast or overnight.

But when we begin to live in our True Truth light, we can at least see the path in front of us–because it’s all lit up and shining… and no longer dark and grey.

#TrueTruth
#JustKeepMovingForward