My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.            Hank Aaron

The baseball game played on in the background and I flipped through a magazine. This is my normal routine when watching baseball. I love it. I could listen to a game on the radio or on TV anytime and anywhere. There is something about the slight inflection of the broadcaster’s voice that let’s you know just when to look up. It’s the end of the season for the Boys of Summer and this is what everyone looks forward too. Playoffs.

The end of slumps.

The crack of the bat causes me to glance up. Everyone moves around the bases. This is what I love. The movement and the darting of the eyes. Everyone up on their toes waiting for the next pitch.

You don’t? I can’t understand. No really. I don’t understand anyone who doesn’t like to watch baseball or find it boring. It all changes in an instance.  A no hitter to a slump. Hitting every ball thrown to a slump. And then when that moment comes and that one player comes through….we go wild. The hit. The catch. The throw! It all makes sitting through YEARS of not winning a game to that maybe we have a chance worth while!

Meanwhile, I am in a slump. I have been for awhile. I think. I feel unmotivated by everything and anything. I am still in my routine. I work on my passion. I move my body for 30 minutes a day because my mind and my body deserve it. Sigh.

I am in a slump. I am waiting for that next pitch to jolt me into action.  I flip through the magazine. It’s telling me how I can do this full body move for 30 minutes 3 days a week to get the toned legs I so deserve. I browse it. I consider it. And I turn the page.

The baseball game carries on in the background.

I realize these guys also have their slumps. Their moments when it’s the end of summer for them and all they want is to keep playing. They don’t let the mundane of the routine get to them. They can’t get lazy. If they get lazy in their game, they miss a pitch or the guy looking to steal.
The repetition of their daily routine helps them get through the days when they feel like they are in a slump.

Every day isn’t the same. It’s a new chance for me to work on my swing.  I can’t simply let the slump take over. I have to think back on what gets me out of my slumps.

Routine.

So I put down the magazine and I pick up my planner. I start writing in my most mundane days until it becomes a routine. It comes back to basics. I work on myself: I read my personal development and I fill my brain up with the knowledge it needs to pull me through any future slumps. I set my alarm to  move my body every single day.

My routine is now set. I feel like that’s half the battle, but I know I am more of a motion than action when it comes to life; so I know only action will help me set it into a habit.

I turn off the baseball game and pull on my headphones. I find my station and the game starts again in my ears.  I  put on my shoes and I step up to the figurative plate.

I begin where I am. I begin with a plan and I let my heart lead me. I trust myself to know that a slump is just a place to re-evaluate and re-think my routine.

Every new beginning makes my brain pause and look for easiest way out. It doesn’t want to do anything that it has to, so I begin small. I begin working from the inside out until all the steps become a habit. I can’t do one without that other. The sleep I need, the alarm that goes off at the same time, the meal planning, the goal setting, and my need for fierce friendships that help build me up to keep me going.

Even in a slump.

I re-adjust my headphones and decide. I keep swinging.

 

In the past, my success has come with sticking to one plan. That usually works. Obviously it’s going to falter, and I’m going to go into slumps here and there, but stick with the plan, and hopefully it will come out successful more times than not. Freddie Freeman