Be Who You Promise Yourself You Will Be

Last week the Young Living International Grand Convention was pretty much amazing.  In addition to learning about great products and hearing some speakers who were nothing short of incredible….I also got to spend time with 2 of my favorite people in the whole wide world.  Two of my older kids.  They went along with me for the week.

Doesn’t get much better than that.

Except when I got home to the rest of my family.  Yep.  That was even better.

We spent the week at the Gaylord in Dallas, TX which is a huge hotel and convention center.  I was looking forward to getting some extra walking steps in since I’ve been sitting so much lately working on promoting my book (being released on Sept 1….woohoo!).

A couple of years ago when I started getting healthy and traveling so much, I made a commitment to myself to take the stairs whenever I was staying in a hotel.  I would allow myself to use the elevator up when carrying luggage upon arriving and down upon leaving, but the rest of my trips back and forth to my room had to be stairs only.

So last week when I walked up to the front desk and checked in the clerk said, “Here you go Mrs. Pennington.  Your room is on the ninth floor.”

Say wha?!

My heart stopped, “Do you have any rooms that are lower, like below the fourth floor?”

(panic)

“We are completely full and that’s the only room.  Don’t worry, the elevator is quick and you’ll love your room!”  Then she handed me my ninth floor key.

As we hauled our giant load toward the elevator I told myself I don’t have to do it.  It’s too much.  I will be walking so much already that taking the stairs will be too tiring.  Just skip it this time.  You need you beauty rest.  On and on my mental excuses went.

We settled into our room and after an hour we headed out to go register for the conference and visit with friends.  I knew it was decision time.  Do I take the elevator or the stairs?  Down NINE floors.

In the words of the great William Shakespeare, “To be or not to be, that is the question.”

Tanslation: Do I be the person I promised myself I would be or believe the excuses that I was whispering in my own ear.

I decided to BE.

So for five days I walked up and down those stairs.  It really changed the way I thought about going up to my room!  Did I really need to?  Would I have to come back down soon?  If so, could it wait and only make a single trip?

I’m dedicated, but I’m not insane.  If I could avoid an extra trip I would!

Once or twice a friend was going to my room with me and I would take the elevator, but honestly I felt a little guilty about that.  I could have met her at the top.  Oh sure, she would have to wait for 10 minutes, but I could have done it.

For the first twenty-four hours I was really struggling by the time I got to the fourth floor.  I’d have to stop for a second and pull myself together at each landing.  By day three I struggled around floor six and by the end I only got tired as I rounded the corner from eight to nine.  I’ll bet if I stayed a few more days I would be doing the whole trip with ease.

So what did I learn, besides to be more careful when making promises to myself?  I learned that I am stronger than I think.  I learned that when I put my mind to it I can do something hard.  I learned that what I think determines what I can accomplish.  I learned that I don’t need to carry so much in my purse.

I mean, do I really NEED those breath mints and water bottles?!  That’s a couple of pounds I could NOT have on my back while I climbed.  Once night when it was after 10:00 and I was dawg tired, I stood there looking up at the stairs.  My purse was heavy so I looked in it to see what I could ditch before I started my ascent.  There was a whole water bottle in there.  So I opened it and right there at the foot of the stairwell I drank that entire bottle.

Of course I realized immediately that only meant I would be carrying the water INSIDE myself instead of outside.  But no matter.  It wasn’t hurting my neck or shoulder as it passed through my digestive system.

As much as it was kind of a pain to take the stairs all week, it was also something I needed to do for myself.  It was definitely a confidence builder.

So now I need to make a new promise….one that pushes me even further.

Have a great week!

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I’d love to hear if you have any promises you’ve made to yourself!