I failed: I brought shame to the nude beach

Yesterday was day 7 of 75 of my #75Hard challenge and I failed to complete all my tasks, so today I start back at day 1.

My Sunday started off well; I used my morning trip to the Waterfront as an opportunity to walk for 45 minutes, completing workout 1. On our way to the beach, I packed my kindle and extra towel for Yoga at the beach — a familiar Capetonian activity. It seemed to be shaping into another day of checking off all my tasks. I was wrong — my intentions were in the right place but I didn't fully commit.

Once at the beach I took some time to read 20 pages from my book, double the prescribed amount, and scout for possible areas for doing Yoga. I quickly decided that this was not the right place to do Yoga and I set out to do it once we got home. On the surface, this seemed like a well-considered decision, but in reality, I was too self-conscious to be seen doing yoga at the beach.

I repeat: I FELT TOO SELF CONSCIOUS TO BE SEEN DOING YOGA AT A NUDE BEACH! Old men were walking around together, as bare as children do, but I was too self-conscious to do yoga in my shorts.

We spent 3 hours at the beach catching up, talking about sneakers, playing Uno and collecting seashells. All in all, it was a good beach day. Once we arrived home I ate what Nando’s would call a full chicken and swiftly passed out. I woke up today with 3 items unchecked from Sunday — my decision to not do Yoga at the beach cost me 7 days of progress.

To turn this failure into a lesson, I must deem some wisdom from it; here’s what I’ve chosen to learn from failing to complete day 7. We cannot only know what to do, we must commit to doing it!

I knew coming from day 1 that it is painfully inconvenient to leave all my water drinking to the last minute, and so I should have packed the remaining 3 litres as part of my beach bag.
Although I decided it was no longer plausible to do yoga at the beach, I knew I was making an excuse deep down. I should have leaned into that discomfort and did the yoga regardless.
I was already topless, I could have taken that progress picture.

Had I truly committed to doing all the tasks that I knew I still had to, I would be typing this update while checking off day 8 tasks, but instead, I’m back at day 1.

We must completely commit to doing what we know we should be doing. It is not enough to know, we must also do. As I wrote in my 20 lessons from 2020 reflection:

Deeds, not words!

Philosophies not practised are wasted. What you don’t use, you lose — worse yet, you never gain.
Are you courageous if you never put it to the test? Do you value temperament if you’re always losing your cool in traffic?

So now I ask myself: do you value consistency if you let it all fall to the wayside at the sight of a single inconvenience? At the slightest feeling of discomfort?
I have committed to not seeing day 1 again.

I’ll see you on day 8 — Be You. Be Great!