🌿 Just One Round

From: Office of Body Relations
To: All Offices
Subject: Just One Round

The Office recently encountered a familiar problem.

It was time for a walk.

The weather was fine.

There was enough time.

Nothing physical prevented the walk from happening.

There was simply no desire to do it.

The alternative was appealing.

Drive home.

The Office considered the matter.

Five kilometres felt like too much.

So a smaller arrangement was proposed.

How about one round?

Walk one round of the park.

Then reassess.

If the desire to go home remained, go home.

No additional rounds required.

This was considered acceptable.

So the first round began.

Nothing remarkable happened.

One foot went in front of the other.

The body warmed up.

The park passed by.

And somewhere during that first round, walking stopped feeling quite so difficult.

At the end of the round, the question was asked again.

Do I still want to go home?

Not yet.

So another round began.

Then another.

Eventually, the walk reached five kilometres.

Observation

The Office notes that motivation did not arrive before the walk.

It arrived after the walk had already begun.

However, the five kilometres are not considered the most important outcome.

The important part happened earlier.

The original requirement—

Walk five kilometres.

—had become:

Walk one round and see how you feel.

The second option was easier to begin.

It also contained genuine permission to stop.

Recommendation

On days when the whole task feels too large, make the first agreement smaller.

One round.

One stretch.

Five minutes.

Then ask again.

Sometimes momentum will arrive.

Sometimes it will not.

If one round is enough that day, one round is still a round that was walked.

—

Office of Body Relations
Department of Self Love

“You do not always need motivation to finish. Sometimes you need permission to begin small.”