The Biggest Wins Are The Small Choices
How showing up for yoga reminded me why little things matter.
I set a goal this year to take hot yoga at least three times a month (You can see all my 2025 goals here). I love it, but with work and training, that’s about all I can realistically fit in. And honestly, it’s so important that I go. I always feel better when I’m actively working on my mobility and flexibility, especially as a weightlifter.
There’s a hot 26 + 2 yoga class (formerly Bikram) every Sunday morning at a studio fairly close to my house, and I absolutely love it. It’s an intense 90-minute class, but afterward, I feel amazeballs. Like, if there’s such a thing as a yoga high, I get it after this class.
You’d think that would be motivation enough, but this past Sunday, I was lying in bed staring at the clock, arguing with myself about whether or not I was going to go. Then I thought about my 2025 goals (this is why tracking goals works so well for me!) and finally gathered enough activation energy to roll out of bed. I literally said out loud, “FINE! I’m up. Let’s do this.”
I’m not joking—I talk to myself out loud all the time now. Is that an aging thing? Or am I just losing it? Either way, it works. I got my ass out of bed, threw on some clothes, and headed to yoga.
As always, the first 30 minutes were absolutely brutal. Then I found my rhythm. As the class progressed, my mood shifted, especially because it happened to be led by one of my favorite instructors, Gladys.
Gladys has this quiet, confident energy. She moves through the room with ease, observing and offering adjustments. Somehow, even when she’s correcting someone else, it feels like she’s speaking directly to me. Her presence is calming.
At the end of class, while we were lying in savasana (corpse pose), she said in her soft, accented voice:
“Thank you for showing up for yourself today.”
I smiled. It was exactly what I needed to hear after that whole internal battle to get to class.
What a powerful reminder. We don’t often thank ourselves for doing the work, but we should.
When I’m doing something I don’t want to do (folding laundry, making lunch, cleaning out the car), I often say to myself (out loud, of course) “Your future self will thank you!” And it’s true, but I don’t usually acknowledge it.
There’s another instructor at the studio who says something during savasana that also sticks with me:
“Where can you do less?”
She uses it to help us release tension in the body, but honestly, I think it applies to life. As a serial overachiever, I definitely need that reminder. Often.
That same instructor also says one of my favorite lines, usually after giving a cue for a pose:
“…or don’t. It’s your practice.”
For example, she’ll say:
“If you’re falling forward, it’s because you’re not kicking hard enough. Kick back more to stay lifted. Kick and stretch… or don’t. It’s your practice.”
It always makes me laugh. I love the coaching, but she’s absolutely right. People are going to do what they want. I think I carry that same energy in my teaching: “I’ve told you what you need to do. You can do it—or not. It’s your choice. You’re an adult.”
There’s a lot of power there—power for the student and the instructor.
So yeah, I did the hard thing.
And I was reminded, yet again, that the biggest wins are the small choices you make, like getting up to go to yoga on a rainy Sunday morning.
#wycwyc
P.S. I painted the featured image when I got home from this yoga class. I was feeling inspired, and dancer is my favorite pose.
P.S.S. Big news on the #wycwyc Book.
and I republished the book. New Paperback coming soon on Amazon!