June Stretch Challenge: Halfway Point
This month's challenge is to stretch everyday for about 15 minutes or more. The goal is to not only become more flexible, but more importantly, to get rid of and prevent chronic tension in and around my muscles. My main form of exercise is weight lifting so, as you can imagine, I get pretty tense and sore. I have also noticed that more frequent stretching aids in lowering my resting heart rate and keeps me more calm throughout the day.
This weekend marked the halfway point of this challenge and overall I feel very good about my progress. However, I did slip up a bit and struggle to fit in a full 15 minute stretch each day while on vacation in Philadelphia. This mainly because there was a lack of time, but also because it just was not a priority for me while visiting family.
As humans, I believe we can be pretty hard on ourselves if we're not perfect. But the reality is, sometimes other things come up and sometimes other things are more important. Does that mean I failed, no, of course not. I got stretching in when I could and got right back on track when I returned home yesterday. All this means is I recognized a larger priority for a few days and I honored that.
What's important to me is that I didn't beat myself up for not meeting all my fitness goals for those three days. Generally I am very good about staying on track, but sometimes it just doesn't work out and that is perfectly fine too. The important thing is to forgive yourself and get back on track when you can.
On another note, I am excited to announce that I have been creating a fun stretch video throughout the month that I am believe will help illustrate my progress. That will be coming shortly after the challenge is over and I can get it all edited!