Active Patience

A winner of an idea landed in my inbox from James Clear. I look forward to his weekly newsletter – it is always full of succinct thoughts, quotes, and a question. This week the one that jumps out at me is the concept of active patience.

Active Patience

You don’t need to catch every break if you’re willing to keep trying.

Every winner has an archive of losses, but each attempt creates the chance for a victory.

You need to be patient, but not passive. Active patience.

– James Clear

AMEN!

YES!

I’m most poignantly applying it to my protracted recovery and uncertainty around an ending – both WHEN it will end and even IF it will end. Because it might not. I could sit by and wait, deciding to not move forward with my goals and dreams because I’m still doing That Over Here. But why? Does that have any impact on either the outcome of the healing and wait or my goals and dreams? That sounds like stagnation and a hefty excuse to not be brave and bold and ALIVE. That sounds like a waste of time!

Investing Time

Instead, I’m choosing to invest my time. Limitations be darned, there is still plenty I can do to invest my time into my goals and dreams so that if and when the end comes, I’m ready to keep going rather than thinking about getting started. We are now at 3.5 years – can you imagine if I had wasted all this time instead of investing it?

Bodybuilding

If there was ever a sport that requires active patience it is bodybuilding. Consistent work and nutrition over a long period of time, each piece a thin layer that creates the whole. Every rep matters. Every oz./gram matters. Tiny cheats add up over time. But, it is all an investment that yields great rewards and requires active patience. There are no shortcuts and there is nothing passive about it.

Yesterday I upped my posing game. I have 18 until my first show, which to some would mean it’s time to chill. For me, I’m grabbing onto this gift of time and using it to master my posing. I hired world class posing coach, IFBB Pro Phoebe Hagan and signed up for my first one-on-one session with her. She is in Dubai – so Sunday morning at 7am you want me in heels and a bikini? Yes, PLEASE! With active patience we will nail this together!

With active patience my coach Adam and I check in every week and work on adding layers of muscle to my frame. Every Tuesday morning at 7:30am I put on the gorgeous blue bikini you see at the top of this post (today’s’ Project 31 image) and shoot check-in photos for him.

Active Patience Applied

How does this idea apply to your life? Where do you have roadblocks that you can work around or even with? Active patience is another way of viewing the idea that the obstacle is the way. Bust through those barriers and go!

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