Our Sugar Free June Winter Challenge is well underway. The idea is four classes a week for four weeks, plus giving up sugar. We know you already know the drill. But we understand that after a couple of weeks, things are starting to feel a little more difficult, maybe the body is sore, maybe the cravings are real. We completely understand. And that’s why we wanted to share with you some of the reasons we love a challenge and how to stay with it until the four weeks are up, and maybe even beyond that.
Creating new and positive habits
A challenge is a way to create new habits. And one of the best ways to create habits is to do things again and again until it feels completely natural and part of your day. A challenge gives you a good amount of time (a month) to see how it feels to practice really regularly and to also, in this case, eat a sugar free diet. Come the end of the month, not only have you now solidified these habits into your daily life, but you should get a clear indication of how these two things make you feel. This gives you a great insight into what works and perhaps what doesn’t. Then moving forward you can implement what works into your life, if you want to.
A challenge should challenge but nourish you
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that a challenge should make you work really really hard. But at the end of the day, you want to feel good while you’re doing it and long after it ends. A challenge should be manageable and sustainable. Which is why we think four classes a week for four weeks is the ideal amount. It allows for life to get in the way here and there, it allows for plenty of rest, and it allows you to do other types of movement if you wish. Without feeling like you’re ‘failing’.
You need to listen to your body and your needs
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you need to ‘complete’ a challenge. Challenges are ways for you to test yourself, nourish yourself, and see how your body responds. But it’s always more important to listen to your body than it is to tick all the boxes. If you’re body needs more rest, you should take it, if you body isn’t responding well to the process, be open to changing something. As we’ve said, this should be about making you feel good and helping you to create habits you can take forward rather than punish yourself.
Kindness is the only way
When we try to implement new ways of doing things, there will be a few steps back taken here and there. And that’s completely normal. The only way that you’ll stick to new things is if you allow for that and do so with kindness. Don’t beat yourself up. Once new things become habits, they don’t have to be so strict and you can make things fit around your lifestyle.
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