If A Tree Falls

This morning I forgot my Fitbit. 

It was almost dead so I charged it when I woke up. I only realized when I was halfway to my gym that it wasn’t on my wrist. I actually considered turning around to get it even though it meant I would be late to my class. 

I decided that was ridiculous but I was so annoyed and it wasn’t easy for me to shake the fact that my workout wouldn’t be “counted". 

I continued to drive having a discussion with myself in my head:

“Michelle, you do NOT need a piece of plastic with a mini-computer counting your steps, your heart rate and your calories in order for your workout to ‘count’.” 

Truth? I needed to say this to myself more than once before I let it go. 

It got me thinking of all the times in my life that something hasn’t counted for me until I’ve gotten external validation. 

The gold star, the A, the Fitbit buzzing to tell me I’ve hit my steps...

It’s all the same message: Unless someone else validates you and tells you that it was good, was it really?

We’ve been trained to seek external validation our entire lives.

I went to class sans Fitbit and here’s what happened:

I did extra reps, I dripped sweat, I pushed myself. And at the end of class, I felt AMAZING. 

It’s possible I pushed myself even harder than normal - but it didn’t really matter that I didn’t have the stats to prove it because instead, I got such a good reminder.

My body tells me everything I need to know. My body told me that I had a great workout. If I looked at the Fitbit, and it told me that I hadn't gotten my heart rate as high, that would have just been DUMB because I FELT FREAKING GREAT. 

How often does your body give you signals that you ignore? How often do you disregard your instincts? How often do you think something's awesome and then let something outside of yourself convince you otherwise? 

Our bodies have so much wisdom. It’s time for us to start going inward for the answers - to stop looking to the outside world to tell us how things should be.