“Stumbling is not falling.” ~Portuguese Proverb
Often times when dieting (how I do not like that word….it should be a lifestyle change! but that’s a whole different topic), exercising, giving up something that’s bad for us and making changes we may regress a bit…but that doesn’t mean you’ve fallen.
We hear people say that they’ve “fallen off the wagon”.
Perhaps fall is too strong of a word, maybe you just stumbled or tripped.
Think about this:
Stumble: verb: to make a slip, mistake, or blunder
Fall: verb: drop or descend, to lose status, to succumb to attack
Obviously fall is a stronger word, whereas if you stumbled or tripped you can easily get back up and go on!
So, when you find yourself not exactly making the progress you want because you have a slight lapse in action or judgment don’t think about it as falling….consider it a mere stumble and get back up and going again!
“A stumble may prevent a fall.” ~English Proverb
This is actually true on many levels.
If you stumble and eat one whole piece of cheesecake you really wanted, it may have prevented you from falling and eating all kinds of other stuff in an attempt to appease your craving and yet still left you unsatisfied to the point you still turn to the cheesecake as well (thus falling for more than you originally wanted).
If you stumble and take a few days off from your extreme workouts, you may have prevented yourself from over-training and hurting yourself.
I, personally, would rather stumble and get hurt a little, than fall and do more damage to myself.
“You don’t drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.” ~Unknown
The only way that stumbling or falling can truly hurt you is if you stay down.
Here are some quick tips to get back on track whether you’ve fallen or merely stumbled!
-First, get UP!
-Don’t beat yourself up–it won’t change anything and could make the situation worse.
-Re-commit yourself to your goals, plans, lifestyle
-Figure out your weak areas and work on developing/strengthening them
-Make a list of the benefits you’ll obtain by staying on track (ie: healthier, lose 5 lbs, clearer skin, feel better, etc.)
-Get coaching help
-Measure and acknowledge results (even the smallest bit of progress is just that PROGRESS)
-If your ‘routine’ gets boring, change it a bit-it’ll leave less chance for stumbling
What do YOU do when you stumble or fall?
I guess then I stumbled the other day when I gave in to my temptations and inhaled some Oreos. I like the reference between stumbling and falling you made. See, I didn’t fall because I didn’t eat the whole container like I may have done in the past. So, I really did just stumble. Thank you Tara. You make things easy to relate to and understand 🙂
Great post! Lots of little choices make up big things. I think that’s why I focus on the little stuff and celebrate the little stuff. And moving forward is just one little action/thought away. I had a bit of a love affair last night with some chocolate chips – man they were good – poured ’em on some yogurt and they totally hit the spot. Then I had a few more LOL Oh well – its been a LONG time since I’ve hit the local store at 11pm for 3 candy bars – ha!
Love your quotes here – I heard once that the child doesn’t learn how to walk by walking, but rather from falling down and getting back up 🙂
Kris! 🙂 luv ya!!! and I ‘stumbled’ myself on more than one occasion the last few weeks but I didn’t completely fall and am back up and going forward 🙂
love the analogy of the child walking by falling and getting back up and not just learning to walk by walking!
love the definitions! I do that a lot and it often really sheds light on words we use so loosely. Thanks for sharing!! Keep up the great work!