[Image credit: Stuart Miles]

Remember forcing yourself to attend a function or participate in something you really didn’t want to, and then discovering it wasn’t as bad as you expected?  You may have even enjoyed yourself a tiny bit.  Or perhaps a lot.  That used to happen to me all of the time as a young girl when I had little choice over my circumstances.  Now that I’m a grown-up, however, I have more opportunities to decide if I’m in — or out.   Although I’m getting better at avoiding commitment at the get-go — when I’m convinced it’s something I’m not interested in — I sometimes vacillate this way and that with my decision-making.  Like yesterday morning when I decided to skip the gym to catch another hour of shut-eye.  I told myself I could bring a change of clothing with me to work and head over for some quick cardio at quitting time … if I felt up to it.  I gave myself a huge out, but forced myself to go anyway.  And I’m so glad, because not only did I run my second (and a half) mile this week (pain-free!), but I met a potential new friend in the parking lot.  Plus, I felt a whole lot better than if I had spent the better part of the evening lounging on the sofa.

When was the last time you did something you didn’t want to, but were pleasantly surprised with the outcome?