what you can when you can (AKA #wycwyc).

by

For me (and, for good or for bad, I am my brand) the entirety of life is about consistency.

  • Fitness? I dont workout for long periods of time. I do workout consistently. A little bit each day. Day in and out. Month in and out. Year in and out.
  • Fiction writing? I did NaNoWriMo again this year and, while it may not be Steinbeck, I was consistently consistent with my words.
  • School volunteering? Other moms are PTA Presidents or spend all day in the classroom.  I can consistently make time to show up & RAWWWR but right now? That’s it.
  • Wife’ing? Friend’ing? Sister’ing? Daughter’ing? Same. Same. Same. Same. I consistently try & do my best and, while I oft fall short, try *again* then next day.

My blog brand and my personal mission statement share this same notion.

Consistently strive to do the best I can in all facets of my life and, by virtue of that, it is enough.

I pay little attention to what others are doing (except to cheer them on) because whatever I can manage in any arena on any given day is *enough* for me.

Perhaps tomorrow will be different (stronger. more patient. more time. more articulate.)—but a huge piece of my self-care is loving myself right where I am.

All of this is why when I saw Roni blog/tweet/instagram using the hashtag #wycwyc it resonated with me.

It was a consistent reminder of the fact when we do what we can whenever we can—-it is enough.

#wycwyc is a shedding of the perfectionist all or nothing attitude (if I cant do thirty minutes of cardio — whats the point of ten?!) and replacing it with:

 

Ive begun living my life with the WICK-WICK (how the Tornado & I pronounce it) as a backdrop & harnessing the power of the concept/community to propel me forward.

swinging as CARDIO!

some days swinging is my only CARDIO! #wycwyc

 

raw veggies from bag

raw veggies hurriedly eaten from bag #wycwy

 

taking 6 flights of hotel stairs not elevator #wycwyc

taking 6 flights of hotel stairs not elevator #wycwyc

 

o

only one clean room in the whole house #wycwyc

 

playing outside & skipping the gym.

playing outside & skipping the gym #wycwyc

 

stopping at one? #wycwyc

stopping at one Mommy Merlot not TWO? #wycwyc

 

whatever I can do & WILL DO is enough.

Small incremental changes & efforts add up over time.

It’s simply a fact.

It’s how I lost 35 pounds and maintained.

It’s how Ive written books & manuscripts.

It’s how I parent, maintain our household, volunteer, self-care—-it’s how I live my life.

It’s #wycwyc.

It’s doing what you can when you can and *knowing* that’s enough.

Join us?

 

 

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Comments

  2. I’d seen you tweet this and didn’t know what it mean.
    LOVE the idea and I want the tights.
    Can we buy them?

  5. This is my 2014 mantra. I have been trying not to set daunting new years resolutions for the past few years (re: lose xx lbs before FitBloggin/birthday ect). I love how you shared what this means in your life. 🙂 Sometimes the blogging world makes it easy for us to all lool perfect, but everyone is working on something. 🙂

  7. you are oh so wise, my friend! i love everything about this! i try and be my best everyday – some days that means different things. this is also important to remember at school as a i teach 4th grade. those kiddos are different on any given day, but as long as they’re trying their best i’m happy 🙂

  10. I like it but I feel that if your overall outlook is wycwyc then that’s all you’ll ever get. Sometimes you need to plan to go above and beyond.

    • such a great point Matt and one I have thought about a lot, too.
      for me it all ties back into INTUITIVE EATING and SELF-TRUST.
      I know –deep in my 44 year old core :-)– I REALLY AM DOING ALL I CAN WHEN I CAN.
      as a result Im moving forward and it is enough.
      When I slack.
      When I try to deceive myself.
      I know.
      I can lie to others about “im trying my best!!” but not myself.

  11. Gosh I needed this. With grad school around the corner I am going to have to embrace this SO much more. I try REALLY hard to do all the things and I can’t.

    The parenthood especially resonates with me – do your best today and then try again tomorrow. SO TRUE.

  13. I think for me I could use this to workout more often.
    I normally do 2 hours a day, but during the holidays I can’t seem to find that chunk of time.

  14. I love this so much I don’t even have the words!! It’s what I try to live by too, though sometimes the “when I can” part can be really tough to carve out. Such a great reminder that small steps of consistency is still consistency.

    • hmmm. Roni and I mightcould have to feature you on the HOMEPAGE if you Mike Tyson’ed yerself!! 🙂

  17. I love this! I got my Fitbit in January 2013, and it really helped me to “sneak in” steps and walk whenever I can, even if it is just 5 or 10 minutes. In the past, I would have thought why bother.

    Your overall exercise message of doing short but consistent workouts is always in my head. 🙂

    Love the one clean room. It sure is better than no clean room! 🙂

  19. I love this so much. Although I do agree with Matt above in seeing that someone can almost abuse the phrase with laziness and inconsistency. It’s a mindset of squeezing in the healthy and happy habits whenever you can, not using the phrase as an excuse for doing nothing.

  20. It’s a great post Carla – always so much to think about…. I am really getting to that point of just being fine with what I do even it it is way more then wycwyc for my fitness stuff… IT all comes down to what is important to each person & feeling good about the choices one makes each day… I am still trying to not worry about “the others” in certain ways – the prejudging that goes on without others really knowing you or what makes you who you are or even what makes up the barriers that may impede us in certain ways.. but I think I am where I just know why I am who I am, what I need to work on to get past certain things BUT OK with just what I do for now whether others think it is stupid or not.. I guess that might be wycwyc.. 🙂

  21. I definitely have a wycwyc life philosophy, but now it’s nice to have a handy acronym to remind myself of it when I start to get all discouraged about self-perceived slackitude.

    Wick-Wick! Wick-Wick! Love it!

  23. It’s what everyone that I know..myself included…does each day. We just don’t have a hashtag for it, or need to write about it for everyone to see..
    The women (teachers and their assistants) do more each day than most women do in a week. They have families (most have small children), the moms I meet are business owners and fit in a run/crossfit before or after work, and houses to maintain. It’s really weird to write about/read about something and give something a name that everyone does without even thinking about it. If you have to think about it, then you have wayyyyy too much time on your hands.


  24. And yet I respectfully disagree.
    I do agree some of us are born simply knowing. Just knowing we are enough. Innately realizing by doing what we can each day it is enough.
    Others of us need reminding.
    Be it by our own selves, through a community, or harnessing the power of a hashtag.

  25. A great philosophy! I was moping last night because I felt like I couldn’t get outside and walk or run so I did some yoga under the Christmas tree and felt great afterwards! It’s all in the approach.

  26. I’ve seen this hashtag all over twitter and wondered what it was about! I freaking LOVE it. I sometimes feel bad about what I do at the gym, in my house (cleaning, cooking, etc), and in my life in general when I try to compare myself to the perfectionism that is so prevalent online. I need to remember #WYCWYC when that BS starts to creep up on me. Thanks Miz!

  29. I’m really digging the wycwyc idea from Roni. Really all this journey ever is is tiny steps added up to equal something bigger. It’s a great idea.

    ps – love the first photo. 🙂

  31. I love this and I love you. I’ve seen you using this hashtag and it has served as a huge reminder to me to focus on what I can when I can and not everything at once. Usually my head is spinning out of control and then I see your tweets and I can sit and breathe again.

  32. Well, that answers my question/post perfectly – yes, simple counts because it is doing what I can today. Tomorrow simple might not work for me and that’s ok, too.
    I love this approach because my whole goal is to just be the best version of myself I can be and not worry about comparing to anyone or anything.

  39. It’s really about making the best choice possible in any given situation and accepting that sometimes it will be monumental and sometimes it will be…just enough to get the job done.

    There’s another saying along these lines that I like a lot and rely on on those “just enough” days: “It’s not what you don’t have; it’s what you do with what you do have.”

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  44. It is such a relief to know that you are doing what you can and that IS enough. Sometimes we just have to be reminded and move on. You are so right about KNOWING when we have and have not really done all we can, when we can. And then you get to just live and be as happy and healthy as we can!

  45. What fine words 🙂 I it is exact not the master of sequence – usually I intensively train few weeks and I throw any sports for a month… Also it is only one example!
    Now I try to achieve results by means of small movements… And it is work better!

  46. This is a great motto to live by. We can’t expect to do everything all the time but if you are putting forth a good effort to TRY and do what you can when you can, then feeling accomplished at the end of the day would happen more often. Very motivational.

  47. I think living life like this would help people feel far more accomplished at the end of the day which would lead to an increase of happiness and well being in general. I love this and I need to practice this more often.

  48. Sometimes we worry if what we are doing is enough. Or we get caught up in comparing what we do to what others around us do. I really like this #wycwyc motto. As long as you are doing what you can when you can, what more can you ask of yourself?

  49. I think this is often forgotten and we should remind ourselves that it isn’t possible to do everything and solve ALL problems. Doing what we can when we can IS enough and is something to be proud of.

  52. #wycwyc can be used for so many things, working out, cleaning, studying, spending time with family and friends, donating or helping out charities. It is a great attitude to have while we head into the next year.

  53. I’ll be honest, for the longest time I could not figure out what #wycwyc stood for. Now, I can’t seem to use it enough in every aspect of my life.

  54. It’s a great mantra for the new year approaching us. The challenge will be being content with doing #wycwyc. I always feel like there is more I can do and often times make myself feel guilty. This will be a good challenge for the upcoming year.

  56. It’s such great motivation that I’ve found lately, keeps my booty up and going for any excuse, however small (the excuse, not my booty, 🙂 Thank you all for the reminder, it’s an awesome mantra for us all!

  57. Thing is, I’m capable of so much more “what I can”, opposed to what I actually do. Identifying the wasted moments (procrastination) will make me better in 2014. Thanks for the mind-candy!

    Ps. YOU are a Thought Leader as well. xo

  59. Love this on so many levels. My word for 2014 is sustainability- and this is what is all about- doing things consistently, when I can- without driving myself into the ground (like I have been doing).

  61. I love this post because I often follow #wycwyc yet don’t give myself enough credit for doing so. Thanks for reminding me that the little things add up!

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