Plank to Win

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Despite my love of April Fool’s Day (yes, I’ve made chocolate-covered cotton balls for students and delighted in their expressions as they bit into them), this is not an April Fool’s joke, just another weekly blog post.

Today’s entry in my Simple Abundance book began with a quote, “Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should become?” It’s attributed to Danielle LaPorte, a Canadian best-selling author, entrepreneur, and blogger.  

Each time I read it, I fight back tears. I can feel the sadness behind those words. I can remember the dreams I had that I shoved aside because of someone else’s insistence.

It took me years before I decided I didn’t care what people thought anymore. I was finally ready to do what I wanted to do.

“You can’t leave your steady job for the unknown!”

“Go ahead, write a book, but just know that NOBODY’S first novel becomes a best seller. It takes years and years of writing books to get on the best-selling charts.”

“You can’t give up your insurance!”

Those were all real statements I heard from people close to me when I finally got the courage to leave my teaching job of 17 years.

Mind you, I do not regret spending time in a classroom with high school kids. Every job you accept should be a learning or an earning opportunity, and those kids taught me something new every single day.

I do regret letting some adults walk over me and making me feel small.

​Back to those early years

The funny thing is, when I was young, I was going to be an author when I grew up. They say that around age 9, you lose your confidence in yourself and you start to listen to what other people say about you. So sad.

If I had stuck to my guns, I’d have already written numerous books.

Think back. What did you want to be when you grew up? What if you could still be that today?

It’s so easy to become comfortable in what our daily routine looks like. We begin to think it’s impossible to change paths because, well, we’d disrupt other people in our lives. Change is scary! And Heaven forbid, we might not be successful trying something besides whatever we’re doing right now.

But there’s a voice inside of you, reminding you that it’s not too late to be what you might have been.

A personal challenge

Every spring for the past several years, my husband and I begin a planking challenge. We sprawl out on the floor with our forearms bent at 90 degree angles, set our phone timers, and see how long we can plank before we collapse to the floor.

We’ve always heard that holding a plank position for more than two minutes doesn’t offer many benefits, so that’s always the goal.  Alexi McKinley, a woman on TikTok, does a two-minute plank every day and believes that “a two-minute plank a day keeps the limiting beliefs away.”

I’ve started following her and watching her do the two-minute plank and she’s become a motivator for me. “You’re doing that plank, and you’re starting to think you may not make it, but you talk yourself into doing the hard thing.”

I love the idea that if I can do a two minute plank, I can do anything. So can you. Whatever that voice in your head is telling you - not the one reminding you to put milk on the grocery list - you should start listening to.

Maybe planking isn’t your thing, but it’s definitely mine. I’ve done three two-minute planks in the last three days and I’m writing a book that I’ll publish later this year. Get rid of those limiting beliefs and go out and be whoever it is you started out to become.