I have been writing this piece in my head for almost 2 weeks. It just hasn’t felt baked. I tried to just forget about it, but the idea of ‘Flirting with the red line’ has not left me alone, so here goes…
It was week 4 of my 12-week transformation boot camp and at around 7:16am this particular Saturday morning, the sea breeze was alive and the afterglow of the full moon was lingering around to watch us folks make it up Bird Rock’s Monster Hill (flippantly described as a slight inline by one of the PT’s).
Twice a week I’m surrounded by sweaty, committed, focused and positive individuals who- alongside myself, haul our booties to group training never knowing what is going to be served up by the trainers, but ready regardless!
To say ‘I’m loving’ it would be having a minimalist approach to the truth!
I am friggin LOVING IT!!!!
Every early morning, every leg cramp, muscle twitch, high five and group photo afterwards!
HOWEVER…
I learnt a thing or two about pushing and challenging my mind and body last year throughout my long stroll on the Camino De Santiago. I learnt that my body (yours too) talks to us?! It’s always letting me/you know how close we are to ‘Flirting with that red line’. It’s guiding us all the way, BUT it does require a certain type of listening ears!
During this particular training session, my fiery Italian competitive side was as alive as Mama ocean. My internal wise self was like ‘Luca, go easy, LISTEN to your legs’, but I caved to the temptation of flirting (I love a good flirt) and chose not to listen.
As a result, I woke up 2 days later with a ‘slight incline- strained hamstring’. This meant no sweaty focused friends for the rest of the week! Interesting…
So what else does Flirting with the red line look like in everyday life when you’re not in your active wear?
- Drinking that extra glass of wine/gin/beer that you know WILL throw you just a little bit too far over the edge
- Ummm… sending a text to a guy who you know is ‘Just not that into you’.
- Saying yes when everything inside of you is asking you to say NO!!!
- Having that extra coffee in the morning, which ends up making you feel anxious all day instead of alert and ready to go!
- And… this is a biggie which we are all culprits of… saying more then we need to instead of zipping our lips cause it’s the WISE thing to do.
But flirting is so fun right?? Right!
So I am going to throw another ingredient in the mix of Red Line Flirting… a good old fashioned PAUSE.
The definition of a pause is: “A temporary stop or rest. An example of a pause is a three-second break in between the lines of a speech. To pause is defined as to stop for a brief period of time”.
Simple Huh?!
When you pause, you remember that you have a choice in that moment. The choice to listen, to act, to wait, to text, to back off, to PUSH harder– the choice is always yours! I’ve noticed this simple Pause can save us and others in so many ways, providing a sense of empowerment instead of just REACTING to life!
Worth a Pause and a Ponder do you think?! Totally your choice 🙂
Simply BLISSfull.
x
SimBLISSity 