The other day, I ordered a couple additional teaspoons, forks and knives to match our silverware set from William Sonoma. We seemed to be running out of silverware too quickly! I realized adding a few more pieces would get us through another meal without running the dishwasher every night. The forks and knives arrived on Monday. The spoons arrived a couple days later in a separate package. When I opened the package, instead of 2 spoons, I found 24 spoons! I looked at my receipt and realized we had only been charged for 2 spoons. Instead of sending 2 spoons, they had sent 2 cases of spoons!! No way did we need an additional 24 spoons. I thought about what to do with the extra and realized the right thing to do was to return them. No I had not been charged for them and more than likely no one would ever realize the error, but returning them was the honest thing to do.
The cashier at William Sonoma was so surprised that I’d made the effort to return them and said, “Thank you! Keep as many as you need and I will return the rest for you!” It felt good to do the right thing. It felt good to be honest.
How honest are you when no one is looking? How honest are you with your workouts? I think some times we have a tendency to exaggerate what we’ve done, hide the truth and figure no one will know. It’s true – often times only you will know how much or how hard you have worked. Only you will know if you are really prioritizing your health and well-being.
When asked are you working out can you honestly answer, “Yes, I am following a program and doing my best”? Are you cheating yourself by skipping workouts, or not working out to your full potential? Do you arrive late and leave early? Do you find ways to take breaks? Do you focus and really try? It’s ok to have an off day but are you having more off days than on days?
It’s time to be honest with yourself! It’s time to hold yourself accountable even if no one else will know! Call it good health karma if you will. Chances are good with my spoon situation that no one would have been the wiser and all would have continued the same had I not returned the spoons. With our bodies, however, in time being dishonest with ourselves will become very obvious. There are visible and physical consequences to hiding the truth about our workouts. Decreased fitness, weight gain, inflexibility, lack of strength and illness are all possibilities if we are not honest with ourselves and don’t take care of our bodies.
You may still choose to keep your workouts private but when you ask yourself, “How am I doing?” …what will your answer be?
12South Pilates & Personal Training 