How to deal with a meditation meltdown

How to deal with a meditation meltdownHow to deal with a meditation meltdownWe hear the hype all the time Ten minutes of meditation a day keeps the doctor away. Actually, I dont think anyone really uses that phrase, but the message is there. People are always talking about how great meditation is for us and the positive impact it can make on our well-being and consciousness.I welches completely bought in. Alongside my 30-day partner in crime, Carly, I committed to an entire month of daily, 10-minute meditations. At first, Om was the word. I was waking up early to get the meditations in and was laser-focused on my audio-guided zen for about 10 days. Then a gluten-free pumpkin muffin happened and it was all down hill from there.Am I really blaming a GF Muffin on failing miserably at my meditation challenge? No. But its the first day I remember being completely unable to focus and feeling uncommitted to my self-imposed challenge. As the month went by and I missed day after day of medita tions to the point I saw no reason to try and salvage the challenge, I put the feelings of guilt on the back burner.However, when my calendar reminder went off saying Meditation Challenge Over Write About It I realized the most beneficial thing to do was not hide the fact I effed this one up, but rather own my own failure and assess what it was that led to my lack of committment.So heres the dirty on my meditation meltdownI did it for the wrong reasons In the same way that they tell you not to diet but instead to make a lifestyle changethe same should be true of meditation. I conceived this meditation challenge not because I wanted to make a positive, peaceful impact on my consciousness longterm but because I was so bogged down analyzing, analyzing and re-analyzing a manfriend situation that I felt like I was going crazy and needed something, anything (other than Xanax or wine) to fix it and cure my emotional breakdown ASAP. Thus, the entire commitment to meditation was born out of a quick-fix mentality. Never a recipe for success.I found SoulCycle Workouts are my stress antidote. If Im in a weird mental space, an intense sweat will get me out of that funk at lightening speed. I know this about myself so it makes total sense that once I started hitting SoulCycle a few times a week, I felt at more peace mentally than I had at any point in my meditations. Its nice to be validated even further that this is the most potent form of calm for me. We should all take the time to figure out what this healthy release looks like for us.Im not perfect My mom would probably tell you I think otherwise LOL But reallywere only supposed to be meeting 50% of our goals anyhow or theyre not lofty enough. So Im going to chalk this one up to falling in that unmet other half. And the greatest significance we can all take away from my mini failure of sorts is that unmet goals are a-okay as long as we learn something in the process and use that to demystify our own parameters for succe ss.Have you had any failed challenges or goals recently? Howd you move past them?This article was originally posted on MaxieMcCoy.com.