Stick With It

I was a middle school teacher for a few years, and I remember my first year of teaching was very overwhelming. No matter how much talent, enthusiasm or academic knowledge I had, I would never have been fully prepared to teach 30 squirrelly 6th graders all day! By the time summer finally arrived that year, I wanted to go home and never come back. I still felt that way in September.

By some miracle, however, my second year teaching was nothing like the first. Thereafter, teaching just got easier and easier. It’s amazing how easy something can become after doing it a few times.

Starting an exercise program might be similar to my first year teaching. It might seem so hard! So huge and impossible! But it can get easier until it’s a routine part of life.

In teaching, I started my first year with optimism and energy, enough to push me through the first few months. My great accomplishment was getting through the middle of the school year, when my energy was almost gone.

It’s easy to get inspired to start a diet or an exercise program. But what really proves the strength of my commitment is what I do in the weeks that follow, when I least feel like doing anything. If I really want something, little will keep me from it.

Quitting my job wasn’t an option that first year of teaching. Perhaps that’s why I stuck to it. If I could stick to my exercise goals with the same urgency, I will undoubtedly be able to do amazing things.