WOTW: 3. Renew

To be honest, this “Word of the Week” chapter titled “Renew” didn’t inspire me anywhere near the way the first two chapters did so this may end up being a short post. But there are a few things that I wanted to work out through writing to further develop my thoughts, even if they may not necessarily be in alignment with the message of this chapter. I’m hoping by the end of my reflection, I will still have learned or gained some insight that is of benefit to me.

“…how we start dictates how we finish.” My initial reaction after reading this sentence was, “Hmmm, I don’t know about that.” I know, in the past, I’ve started something with full energy and determination only to have it wane out and fizzle completely, and on occasion even being completely left unfinished and abandoned. My blog has sadly been a perfect example of starting strong but not finishing strong looking at year after year. In 2018, my most active year, I published 72 posts. Of that, I did 26 of them in January, equating to writing a post almost every single day the first month of the year. The remainder of the year only had 46 posts published in a span of 11 months. That year, I started strong and ended weak with my blog. I can also that has been the case year after year with so many of my New Year’s resolutions!

Here is another quote from chapter 3: “We must renew…things for ourselves before they expire…or we expire in the process.” This is another sentence that I don’t necessarily agree with based on the way it is written. While I do agree that we must renew things for ourselves, because after all who else is going to do it for you? I don’t think we necessarily will expire in the process if we don’t renew something. Sure, it is likely that we may stagnate or possibly take a few steps backwards, but “expire”? One definition of the word “expire” is cease to be valid after a fixed period of time. It is hard for me to think of a specific example where if we don’t renew something for ourselves, that we would expire in the process. If you can think of something, I would really love to hear it.

Throughout the chapter it gives examples such as renewing food choices, power stance, planning and taking vacations as a way to renew relationships, workouts, commitment to a strong core in plank practice, self-healing, vow to self , vision and view and ultimately, renewing every day. Yes, if you eat the same foods day in day out, that becomes a bore, just as running the treadmill day after day. As I read through this, I just didn’t get much out of it so don’t really have any insights to share.

Maybe the only thing that I consider worth sharing is a mention of renewing your confidence by attuning your body to it through the following: “Just like in true set-position, draw your shoulders up, back and around. Brace through your mid-section, and line your feet directly under your hips.” It is possible that this stood out to me simply because I vividly described my tendency to physically pull inward, in a way that is basically opposite of what this is stating. I know my posture is shit, and I also know that it is largely due to my lack of self-confidence, always wanting to disappear and be invisible because the little negative child in me asks, “Who am I to take space, much less a lot of space?” If you listened to my last post about Chapter 2, you’ll know the basis of my line of thinking here. But the fact that I have a history of back, neck, and shoulder issues also reminds me that my terrible posture only exacerbates those negatively. It is actually in my best interest physically to maintain a strong posture along with actually doing exercises for my back.

I guess the last thing that comes to mind is that while renewing my confidence through my body will help me physically, I do know that it will also affect me mentally. Similarly to how people say to smile even if you don’t feel like it, because forcing your muscles to do it will in fact have a reaction in your brain and body to help start to feel the actual emotion. I know that by standing straighter, it will improve my confidence. I have experienced this in the past in fact, but I somehow never seem to be able to stick with it. This makes me think about how this chapter started. If I start weak with trying to improve my posture, does that mean I will end my life weak in that aspect too? It would be depressing to think of it that way. I guess the one thing I gained from this chapter is that I will continue to keep trying and remember to roll my shoulders back when I realize how hunched over I am and maybe eventually it will become habit and be my normal confident posture. Only time will tell! By the way, if you ever see me all slouched over, I welcome you to remind me to “renew my confidence with my posture.”