Tag: #failure

November 27, 2022. Going backwards.

This is what you hope to never do. We set goals and tiny step our way to them. Easy right? We know there will be hiccups along the way. I liken it to mountain climbing. You climb and climb and sometimes rest but then you keep going. Well, what happens when your foot slips and you fall halfway down the mountain? You end up where I am now.

I threw my back out about a week ago. I wish I knew exactly how I had done it, but unfortunately it seems to have happened from turning over in my sleep. (The joys of getting older)

So I haven’t cared about steps. I haven’t cared about writing. I haven’t even really cared about school or television or anything. I care about the pain I am in and how I can get myself out of it.

Slowly, I am improving. I am frustrated. Things were going so well! And now…I feel like I am at the base of the mountain and have to start all over again. Then I am reminded that this is life. Things don’t always go the way you planned them.

So what advice do I have for you and for myself?

Start where you are. Go ridiculously tiny. Don’t quit. (So for me that means tiny stretches to try to ease the pain. Small, slow movements at work. Lots of hydration and healthy food so my body can heal. Visits to the physical therapist.)

So if you (like me) are at the base of a metaphorical mountain, just know that I understand. I am here with you. And we have to keep going, one tiny little step at a time.

To my 96 followers-thank you so much! I hope your back is strong and pain free. Have a great week!

May 22-we don’t like to talk about failure.

Failure. The reason I started this blog was because I believe in the tiny habits and tiny steps toward a goal. However, I also wanted to “see failure.” So many books and stories tell you “I just did one or two things and now I’m successful.” And I KNOW that there are more ups and downs than that.

So I wanted to start this blog to document everything. And guess what? I know why people don’t want to document failures. Because it’s embarrassing. I didn’t want to fail this week and as I got ready to write his post, I didn’t want to write it because I feel as though I have failed at some things.

However, failure is a good time to regroup and scale back. I have come to believe that if you find yourself unable to make progress, then your actions/steps/habits are “too big.” You can NOT compare yourself to others at this point. Instead you need to scale back to what YOU can accomplish.

Here. is an example. Two weeks ago I went all week with no sugar, without chewing on ice. This week I have eaten sugar and have been chewing on ice. Each day I start again and I can’t help but think about “30 days of no sugar or even 1 week of no sugar.” and I immediately think it will be impossible. It is because I am thinking too big. I am imagining a place where I am not. A place that feels unattainable. And so I must change something and try again. Therefore…

I need to scale back. I will try to just eat one meal without sugar. Then two meals. Then three. Then a whole day. Then two days. Same with the ice chewing. If I am awake for 15 hours a day, I will try to go one hour without chewing it, then two, then three and so on.

Failure makes us vulnerable. It makes us feel weak. It doesn’t have to. Instead it can make us reevaluate and try again. We only fail when we stop and don’t keep striving to improve. I will let you know how it goes!

To my 83 followers…THANK YOU! And stay tiny! Scale back your actions so far that you are successful. Even if it feels silly. It will work. Save $1.00. Floss one tooth. Eat one healthy meal. Wash one dish. Do one load of laundry. Get to work early one day this week. You can do it! See you next week!

April 18-Go tiny or don’t. Sweets are where I can’t.

I have an enormous sweet tooth. Always have. I attribute my unhealthy eating to this sweet tooth and when I can get it under control, I am usually healthier. Last fall I went strict keto and lost a good amount of weight. I felt good but also too restricted, so I started cheating a little here and there during the holidays. Then the pandemic hit and I actually did pretty well when we were in lockdown.

Where things started to go poorly was this fall when I started school again. Teaching in a pandemic has been HARD. I’m tired and stressed and have been using food to comfort myself. I don’t know if it has really helped, but it’s what I have been doing.

Now I am in the midst of coaching my tennis season and I am eating terribly because I am even more tired and even more stressed. So, while I am sticking with tiny habits for a lot of things, I need to do something to get my diet back to healthy. No more candy. No more cookies. No more desserts, cakes, etc…Until my birthday on June 5. Thats about 7 weeks away. I thought I could eat a tiny bit of these things each day and be fine. I can not. The minute I open the “dessert door”, it’s a run away train.

So I am going “big step” for this one for the next 7 weeks. No sweets until my birthday. I will keep you posted. Wish me luck.

March 7-a week of failure. I must have tried to do too much.

This was a bad week. I’m actually amazed at how bad it was. It was as if all my tiny habits didn’t matter and I didn’t care. Usually, I can analyze what happened and pinpoint where I went wrong. Unfortunately, that isn’t possible this week.

Elliptical-I did 15 minutes one day and didn’t do any the rest of the week. I was either too tired or didn’t feel like it or ??? Maybe I pushed too hard too fast? This week I will go back to what is attainable. I’m not sure what that number will be. I will let you know next Sunday.

Health-I did part far away in the parking lot but that is about it.

Diet-I ate terribly. It was a keto fail. I can’t even call it keto. It was simply “eating whatever I wanted with no regard for anything else.” I wonder if it had something to do with changing up my breakfast.

Money-I did a great job with this. I was able to transfer some unspent money into my Las Vegas account for our upcoming trip. Im actually really happy about how I did with this.

Home-my bedroom was a mess all week

Mental-I struggled to read anything or care about trying to improve myself.

Other-I did compliment a person. But it didn’t feel like much.

Bursts-NONE

Missteps-THE ENTIRE WEEK as you saw above

Next steps. So here is the important part and here is where I feel like every article/blog post/book I ever read leaves me hanging. They don’t talk about this part. I understand why. It feels like failure. I feel like a failure. And yet, I have a choice. I can keep falling down this hole of self pity, apathy, and failure or I can start again. I choose to start again. Slow and tiny even though my heart wishes it could be fast and big. Slow and tiny is how I will get there.

So…next steps will be…

Elliptical-I will start with 1 minute and increase where I can

Health-I will go back to eating my cheese sticks for breakfast, salads for lunch and almonds for a snack. Dinner will be a challenge as always and I am working on that.

Money-I will save whatever amount (be it small or large) and transfer it to my Vegas account

Home-I actually am doing a load of laundry right now and I threw away some papers. I also put away a pile of clothes that had been sitting out for a while.

Mental-I am going to read for pleasure. If I stumble across a self help book that seems interesting, I will consider it.

Other-I am not sure what to put in this category. I did write a St Patricks Day card to my grandma and I am going home to see my parents next weekend.