Living the Storyline: Growth Beyond Resolutions
Introduction: The Trap of Short-Term Stories
As the holiday season and New Year descends on us it often brings reflection, resolutions, and a sense of starting over. While these moments can feel empowering, they also encourage us to think of life as segmented into years—chapters we label as "good," "bad," or "neutral." These labels reduce the richness of our experience into binary outcomes of success or failure.
The holiday season also brings some big blockbuster movies to the theaters or your streaming app of choice. I love movies - so much so that I try to sneak at least one movie reference into each of these blogs. It keeps the writing process fun, even if just for a second.
Memorizing lines for these movies seems hard. Scripts change. Sometimes you've got to improv. Personally, my short term memory needs work. What good is memorizing individual lines at this point if you don't understand the overall storyline? There's so much more to be gained when we shift the focus from the minutiae of the script to the essence of the story.
Rather than worrying about isolated "good" or "bad" years—or individual successes or failures—we can choose to embrace the long arc of our personal story. Reframing our approach to health, strength, and longevity in this way also removes the pressure to be perfect within arbitrary, man-made timeframes.
TLDR and A Quick Disclaimer: Avoid Main Character Syndrome
While reframing your story and embracing the arc of your journey is powerful, remember: you’re the protagonist, not the only character. Find your "why," act on your arc—but don’t let it turn you into the self-important star of a one-person drama. Growth is great, but so is humility!
The Problem With Viewing Life as Chapters
A Year as a Chapter
Thoughts like "This was a great year" or "Next year will be my year" while well-intentioned, reflect a desire to create closure. But this framing can be limiting.
If your fitness journey didn’t go as planned, this mindset can feel discouraging. The weight of unmet goals—whether it’s a missed performance benchmark, an interrupted routine, or unexpected life circumstances—can overshadow the progress you made in showing up, learning, and persisting through challenges. It creates an unnecessary sense of failure, as if a "bad year" erases all the good.
But even if the year did go well, this chapter-based framing still has its downsides. It can create an artificial finish line, making you feel like you’ve “arrived” or achieved everything you set out to do. You might break your arm patting yourself on the back and reliving that one glory year. This sense of completion can lead to complacency, stalling long-term growth. Viewing success as tied to a specific time period takes the focus away from the habits and processes that created that success.
Whether the year brought setbacks or breakthroughs, there’s always a benefit to zooming out and seeing the arc of your life as a whole. Seeing the longer storyline—a perspective that stretches beyond the confines of a single year—can help you keep a mindset of curiosity and continuous growth, where every year becomes a step in an ongoing journey.
The Cycle of Starting and Stopping
Consistency
Real growth comes from showing up every day, not just once a year
Resolutions often come with an “all or nothing” approach. It's easy to commit and make a Facebook post about running every day, eating perfectly, or never missing a workout—but what happens when life inevitably gets in the way? This cycle of starting strong, falling off, and starting over creates a sense of defeat and discouragement.
Success and failure aren’t endpoints. They’re simply moments within a much larger story. Recognizing this is the first step to breaking free from the stop-and-start cycle.
Shifting Focus: The Long Arc of the Story
In storytelling, the best performances come when the actor deeply understands the arc of the story and the character’s motivations. They don’t fixate on every single word but instead embody the essence of their role. Similarly, in fitness and self-improvement, understanding the broader arc of your life can help you stay grounded.
Think about your journey as one of ongoing growth. Health, mobility, strength, and discipline are not checkboxes to be completed within a year—they’re threads that weave through your entire story.
Success Is the Pursuit, Not the Result
Success isn’t just about finishing a masterpiece—it’s the act of creating, experimenting, and improving. Yes, your fitness and health are real, tangible things but it can also be your art and expression of self. Instead of chasing results for the sake of results, embrace the pursuit of movement, strength, and self-discovery as valuable in and of themselves.
Longevity isn’t a sprint; it’s a lifelong process. By shifting your focus from short-term outcomes to the process itself, you’ll find more joy, more resilience, and a deeper connection to your journey.
Practical Tips for Rewriting Your Story
Forget Deadlines, Remember Disciplines
Keep Swimming
If you’re lucky enough to be alive and reading this, you know what to do
Deadlines can be useful, but they’re not the whole story. Instead of saying, “I’ll lose X pounds by March” or “I’ll run a marathon this year,” focus on the habits that will support your growth:
Commit to moving every day, even if it’s just 10 minutes.
Set aside time to prepare nourishing meals.
Get some sleep, reduce unnecessary stress, and keep the good stress
Practice breathwork, yoga, or strength training to build mental and physical resilience.
Share all of this with others
These disciplines will serve you far beyond a single year or resolution cycle.
Find Your Character’s Why
Imagine yourself as the protagonist in your own story. Who do you want to become, and why does this journey matter? Goals like "I want to lose weight" or "I want to be stronger" are surface-level. Dig deeper:
Are you striving to feel strong and confident in your everyday movements?
Do you want to be able to play with your kids without pain?
Are you rediscovering what your body is capable of after injury or illness?
Is there a skill or sport you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t yet?
Are you pursuing a sense of balance and calm?
Do you want to feel more capable in your favorite activities or hobbies?"
When your "why" connects to a deeper story, it becomes easier to stay motivated.
Strength Training and Yoga: Tools for Self-Discovery
At their core, strength training and yoga are practices of exploration. Each time you step onto a yoga mat or pick up a barbell, you have an opportunity to learn more about your body, your mind, and your capacity for growth.
Strength training teaches resilience, focus, and the value of consistency. Yoga cultivates self-awareness, balance, and adaptability. Together, they provide the physical and mental tools to navigate life’s ups and downs with grace and determination.
These practices are not about perfection or instant results. They’re about showing up, learning, and becoming stronger—not just physically, but as the author of your own story.
Conclusion: The Ongoing Arc of You
Life isn’t a series of isolated chapters—it’s an ever-evolving narrative. When you focus on the long arc of your story, you’ll see that every success and setback is simply part of the journey. Free yourself from the pressure of short-term deadlines and open the door to true growth and self-discovery.
This year, instead of resolutions, try rewriting your approach. Focus on the process, the pursuit, and the art of becoming. Your story is ongoing, and you are the one who gets to write it.
For those in the Tampa and St. Petersburg area ready to invest in their ongoing story, we offer specialized in person fitness programs and classes designed to support your journey. Online options are also available if you’re not in the area or are always on the go. Whether you’re looking to master breathwork for strength, deepen your yoga practice, or integrate both for balanced and sustainable fitness, our sessions are here to meet you where you are. Discover your story and continue building it with us. Contact us today to learn how we can help you breathe, move, and grow stronger - step by step.
