Welcome back to No Filter Fridays.
Real talk on midlife, reinvention, and creating momentum on your own terms.
Each week, I write openly about what I’m learning along the way — in work, life, and everything in between — and share it here for anyone navigating change and wanting to move forward with intention.
Season #3 | Issue 2: Momentum doesn’t always look how you expect
Why adjusting the plan is sometimes the most honest form of progress
Momentum can take a lot of forms.
For a long time, I thought it only counted if it followed the plan. If it looked disciplined. If it stayed on track.
This week reminded me that momentum doesn’t disappear just because you adjust the plan. Sometimes it simply changes shape.
It started with legs day.
I’d had a break from the gym while travelling, and apparently my muscles hadn’t just rested, they’d forgotten what they were meant to do. Legs day hit differently, and by Tuesday the real achievement wasn’t another workout. It was walking.
The careful, shuffling kind.
Stairs suddenly felt hostile.
Sitting down and standing back up became a strategic operation involving arm strength, furniture leverage, and a fair bit of concentration.
Anything that required thigh muscles felt like a thousand tiny knives had taken up residence.
Wednesday didn’t happen.
Friday didn’t either.
A few years ago, that would’ve been enough for me to write the whole week off. Missed sessions meant the plan had failed, so I’d tell myself I’d start again on Monday and carry a low-level guilt until then.
But that’s not momentum.
That’s all-or-nothing thinking.
So instead of abandoning the plan, I adjusted it.
I stayed home, grabbed the dumbbells in the home gym, and did what I could. It wasn’t the workout I’d scheduled, and it definitely didn’t involve my legs doing anything heroic, but it kept the habit alive and respected what my body was dealing with.
I didn’t fail.
I adapted.
And that distinction matters more in midlife than it ever did before.
What I’ve learned is that momentum isn’t intensity or perfect execution. It’s continuity. It’s doing what you can on the day you’re in, with the body you have, rather than punishing yourself for not sticking to a plan made earlier in the week.
Some weeks momentum looks like full gym sessions. Other weeks it’s dumbbells at home and relearning how to move without wincing. The progress doesn’t disappear just because it looks different. It simply shows up in another form.
Momentum still counts.
Even when it’s quieter than you expected.
❓Where is momentum showing up for you right now, even if it looks different than you expected?
I also share reflections and resources through The Mama Assembly for women navigating midlife and reinvention.
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— Gill
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