I know it’s not the start of the month (it’s not even the end of the month) but I today I wanted to write a blogging tips post.
So pour yourself some summer-worthy beverage and settle in.
Toady I want to talk about UNquitting.
I mean, what better fitting topic could there possibly be after my month long absence from this blog?
Don’t worry! I never thought of quitting or shutting down Gymbags and Jetlags but life just kinda gets in the way sometimes if you let it. And I let it. But now it’s summer and I’m back and I have so many new ideas and new collabs and so much excitement. Woo!
But that’s not what we’re chatting about today. Today we’re talking about that feeling you get after having quit something and realizing that you really miss it. Do you know the feeling I’m talking about?
The regret, the missing, the telling-yourself-this-is-it-you-made-your-choice?
There are tons of books and posts out there about why quitting is okay. And it totally is!
But no one talk about why it’s totally okay to unquit as well.
I think the main reason people think that they have to stick by their choices to quit is because of pride. Society literally always tells us to be strong and be consistent. But if something makes you happy, why wouldn’t you keep doing it even if you once said to yourself or even someone else that you quit??
Maybe you feel like because you quit that fitness programme, you can’t start again.
Or you can’t go back to a job.
Or can’t go back to not smoking altogether.
Or can’t go back to being vegetarian.
All of those are things that are totally in your control and that no one is going to judge you for, silly!
In other words, it is 100000% okay to unquit.
So let’s say you’ve decided to try again and get back on that metaphorical fitness/job/smoking/vegetarian horse.
Awsome!
Now it’s time for a little reflection.
(You didn’t think I’d promise unquitting to be all that simple, did you?!)
The most important thing when it comes to unquitting is realising what went wrong in the first place. If you can pinpoint why something didn’t work out (and hint: there are probably several reasons), you’re one step further away from quitting again!
I acknowledged that during May I was traveling and then exam time was just too crazy for me to make time to blog.
To move forward, fix whatever went wrong. Add some motivation or remember why you loved what you were doing in the first place. When I’m not posting on this blog, I keep thinking (and writing down) post ideas allllll the time. Eventually I just get too excited about new content and always circle back soon enough.
Maybe you were too bored with and didn’t make time for that fitness programme which caused you to quit.
Maybe your life became stressful and smoking was the only way you could get some relief for your mind.
Or you caved that one time to eat a burger and felt like you had to quit being a vegetarian altogether.
The other most important thing about unquitting is forgiving yourself.
Let me be the first to say that this is easier said than done.
My inner perfectionist sometimes asks what’s the point of running a blog if I can’t even keep up with a consistent posting schedule and don’t even have photos ready for posts? But I’ve learned to just swallow that weird breed of self-pride and get over it. As soon as I hit ‘publish’ on a new post, all those silly little anxieties melt right away.
Once you finish that first work out, you’ll know you can do it better this time.
Once you’ve ordered a cigarette alternative from somewhere like here, you’ll feel like you can throw that 20 pack in the trash.
Once you go a full day, week, weekend vegetarian again, you can let yourself feel proud of bouncing back.
So in summary:
+ it’s okay to unquit!
+ figure out what went wrong and choose your weapons against it
+ forgive yourself!
+ be a star
As for me, like I said, I am so excited to be working on a bunch of new content. Some projects that are in the works include getting my monthly email finally up and running and a collaboration with GoMacro Bars.
What are your thoughts on unquitting? What have you picked back up?
… AH, it’s good to be back. 😘