You Do Look Better — Stop Being Blind To Your Growth
Tunnel vision wrecks your happiness
“I never feel like I’m good enough.”
It’s a line I’ve heard from a hundred different people, whether it’s friends, family, my clients — And to be honest, from my own brain plenty of times.
It’s bad enough to have to deal with a hectic work life and raise kids, but when you add self-worth to the mix, it makes you wonder how exactly you can hold it all together.
With all this going on, how do you do your best to maintain a healthy lifestyle?
As a health coach, my experiences have taught me that most of us haven’t figured it out. Yes, it does come down to a lack of guidance and expertise to some degree, but I also feel that it has a lot to do with our fixation on metrics and goals.
These are important, of course, but they leave us unable to appreciate the demands we’re exerting on our bodies and minds today, which does have a huge impact on how we see ourselves. Especially if we don’t see any results on day 30, as we had desperately hoped.
Putting another way: We are willing to stress ourselves out now more than we need to, for the promise of a better and happier future version of ourselves.
Do you feel that you’re on this boat? You’re definitely not alone.
But you can do better, for your own peace of mind.
Focus on the now.
When you set the bar high and focus only on looking further up, you might not realize that you’re missing out on the joy you deserve from the progress you’ve already made.
Yes, it’s important to work towards your goals.
Yes, tracking the metrics can help get you there.
But here’s the thing you need to remember:
Your goals offer your journey more definition, but they don’t define it.
And they certainly don’t define your self-esteem, especially when you have other aspects in your life that offer just as much or much more meaning.
At TNV Method, we realize that most people struggle to focus on taking care of themselves and their mental health with a full schedule and not a break in sight. Our Transform programs offer 1:1 mindset sessions with a Health Psychologist, to ensure that you’re able to stay confident and consistent with your fitness journey, and keep that spark alive/
When you look in the mirror everyday and expect to see a you that has already successfully achieved all your weight-loss and muscle mass goals, you are priming yourself to feel disappointed.
That 100% success bar takes up center stage in your brain, like a bright neon sign that’s pushing you to make it real every waking minute of your day.
It’s there when you get out of bed in the morning, and doesn’t switch itself off half the time when it shows up in your dreams.
It makes you feel bad when you still see your skin and arms look the same they did a couple days ago.
It makes some dull noises when you’re not rolling natural twenties, and you might actually be pretty convinced by the things it says:
It means you’re not trying hard enough.
It means you’re cutting yourself too much slack.
It means if you don’t push yourself ASAP, the world’s going to end.
Your brain’s being absurd.
A, this is not an exam that you can cram for, this is life. You’re going for the marathon, not the sprint. That takes sustainable effort, which is going to take a lot of time. And that’s okay.
B, this is something you can afford to make this one out of many other things in life that lend you purpose.
Your family, your work, your mental health, even the art you do in your free time all adds up to fill up your self-esteem tank.
Even if you do have a rough patch with your fitness goals right now, these aspects will support you until you’re in a better place to get back on track.
All this to say the present moment actually matters and we should all try to live in it.
Here’s something easy you can do anytime you need to, just to be more mindful of how far you’ve come:
Close your eyes for a minute and think about what you can do now, that you couldn’t do a year before.
Do you walk with a skip in your step now?
Do you grow at your own pace now?
Do you stand a little taller now?
Because here’s the thing:
You probably do look better now, even if you haven’t realized it yourself.
Don’t look in the mirror. Look inside yourself instead.
The TNV Method offers tailored fitness coaching that fits your busy lifestyle, combining custom workouts, personalized nutrition plans, and supplement advice. Our program includes mindset coaching through expert videos and psychologist-led sessions. We track your progress meticulously, ensuring sustainable fat-loss and gradual, long-term results. With endless adjustments based on initial assessments, we guide you to a healthier lifestyle seamlessly integrated into your routine.
