Everyday is You vs. You. Not you vs. them. Not you vs. her/him.

How are you going to compete with yourself today?

If you’ve been following along, I write about healthier living and fitness. So this YOU vs. YOU is focused on just that. But it applies to all aspects of life. If you’re always comparing yourself to somebody else or everyone else. STOP it NOW! It leads you to quitting, failing and a terrible mood. You are not somebody else. You are you, and it’s time to start focusing on you.

This past weekend, I had to really put that in perspective. My box (gym) had an in-house competition for CrossFit Boom’s 6 year anniversary. Originally, I wasn’t interested in taking part. I’m not ready to COMPETE. Then I kinda sorta was interested but wasn’t sure I could go. At the last minute, I found out I could go and signed up. Sadly, I regretted it the minute the workouts came out.

I wanted to quit before it even started. I knew I was going to be terrible at the workout and would most definitely be the slowest. This was not an exaggeration. This is truth. But it’s also a terrible attitude. The competition is supposed to be for FUN! This would be a FUN TEAM workout. There wasn’t a prize at the end, but I don’t want to let the TEAM down. I was going to try to have FUN.

On the outside I was smiling and truly enjoying hanging out with my friends, but in my head I kept thinking who all was going to be better than me? Who all was going to beat me? Although we were on teams we worked out as individuals and added our score up at the end. At the event, I watched people finish under a certain time, do a certain amount of reps, and I kept telling myself there is no way I could keep up.

Then it came time for me to workout and I had to stop worrying about everyone else. Just worry about me. Why am I here? I’m here to be fit and here to have fun. In the end it didn’t matter what everyone else did. In the end my score got averaged in with everyone else’s. Did I bring the average down? Probably. But did I show up and do the work? YES, I DID. Did I push my limits? Honestly, YES, I DID. Did I have FUN? Eh, some say it’s fun, some say it’s torture! But I had a good time with good people.

At the end of the day, if I keep worrying about whatever everyone else is doing, then I will lose track of me. I’m know I’m not at the same fitness level, age or determination as everyone else at my gym. I could be close to some and far, far away from others.

Everyday I have to wake up and do work for me. It’s me vs. me. Am I living up to the me of yesterday? Am I going to do better today? Am I making progress? Am I letting the negative voice in head win today?

For the most part, I am winning. I am making progress. I am pushing myself. I’m not always winning. I’m not always making every workout. I’m not always eating 100% on point. But I have to overcome the fails and win the mental battle to keep going. No one else can do the work for me.

No one else can do the work for you.

What are you going to do for you? Eat a little better? Workout a little more? Pick up a new hobby? Encourage someone in their journey?

You have to put forth the effort. You have to squash the voice in your head that says you can’t. You have to know that you can’t out-train a bad diet. You have to know that just showing up will eventually not be enough. You have to know that going with the lighter weight is eventually going to leave you at a plateau.

You have to win against yourself. Daily. And I’m not here to tell you that it will be easy. There’s a percentage of you that can take on a challenge and master it easily and for the rest of us mortals, it’s hard to get rid of bad habits. Especially when it comes to food and exercise. If you’re just starting a journey, you are bound to see lots of big wins early on. If you’re restarting a journey, maybe a little slower. But at some point all of us plateau. We hit a standstill. We’re doing all the right things. Eating all the right things but no more movement.

That’s when the big YOU vs. YOU kicks in big time. Maybe you need to eat more protein and less fat. Or even cut that sugar down. Maybe you need to challenge yourself and up the weight whether it be dumbbells, kettlebells or barbells. Maybe you need to add a 1/2 mile to your walk/run. At some point, you can’t skate by. You have to take a good look at you.

Be honest with yourself.

Are you really logging all the food you eat? Or are you in denial? Did you think that piece of candy didn’t really count because it was so little? Did you misjudge the size of your chicken breast?

Are you putting in the intensity in your workout? Are you really going hard as possible? Are you pushing yourself? Or did you just kinda sorta work out?

NOTHING CHANGES IF NOTHING CHANGES!

So make that small change today. Or a big change. Cut out sugary drinks! More importantly cut out FAKE sugary drinks! Take a walk when you get home instead of catching up on your DVR. Cook your dinner instead of picking up something to go. Sign up for that hip hop class you think you are to uncoordinated for. Get outside your comfort zone. Make a plan and execute it.