Keeping Promises to Myself: A Month of Push-Ups and Perspective

Next challenge is done! 15 push ups for 30 days was a doozy for me. I struggled through all 30 days of this challenge but learned some things in the process. The main thing being that I can do what I say I’m going to do. For most of my adult life that has not been true for me…. putting other people ahead of myself was much more comfortable, but I’m learning that keeping promises to myself is good and necessary. 🙂

I was nearing the end of my first challenge, (you can read about that one here.) and I was starting to think about what I wanted to do next. I was scrolling Instagram and came across my friend Meghan’s stories where she was talking about starting this push-up challenge and without much thought, I decided that that would be the next challenge I gave myself. I liked the fact that it was going to be quick and that it was going to work on my upper body since the challenge I was currently in at the time was working on my lower body.

Every morning before I ate breakfast, and while my husband was occupied getting ready for work because I DID NOT want him to see me 😂, I got down on the floor and whipped them out. I did end up documenting each day by videoing and I’m glad I did because I could see the progress that was being made even though it didn’t feel like anything was happening.

I had to start slow with this challenge too. Doing all 15 push-ups as regular push-ups was too hard, so I decided to do 5 regular ones and 10 “girl” ones in the hopes that I would add to that 5 as the days went on. That was a lofty hope! I probably could have squeezed out a 6^th one on the last day but didn’t.

Every day was hard. And I really did think that I would gain strength faster, so it was humbling to see how weak I was and also that I was going to have to give my body some grace. It also was so good to have to keep showing up every single day for myself knowing that I wasn’t going to do this perfectly. Most people want to give up when it’s not going how they want it to, me included, so it was great for my brain to see that I can do hard things even if they don’t look like I thought they would.

What really surprised me, though, was how much of this challenge ended up being about my mind more than my muscles. Every single day I had to face the little voice that said, “Why bother? You’re not getting better fast enough.” And every single day, I answered back—maybe not perfectly or confidently—but I answered by showing up and doing the push-ups anyway.

This was new for me. For so long, it felt easier to keep promises to everyone else and let myself be last on the list. But this challenge reminded me that keeping promises to myself matters too. It’s actually necessary. It taught me that even on days I didn’t want to, even when it didn’t look pretty or perfect, I could still do the thing I said I’d do. And that small act of keeping my word to myself quietly changed the way I see myself—it made me trust myself a little more.

If you’re reading this and thinking about trying your own challenge, I want to encourage you: it doesn’t have to look perfect. It doesn’t even have to look impressive from the outside. Starting slow, adjusting, and showing up anyway isn’t failing—it’s exactly how growth happens. We often think that change comes from big leaps or instant results, but real change often starts with small, consistent steps, and grace for ourselves along the way.

And when I look back, I can see that the real growth wasn’t about numbers. Sure, I didn’t end up doing 15 full push-ups. But I did show up every single day for 30 days. I did keep going even when it felt discouraging. And I did prove to myself that I can do hard things, even if they don’t look the way I imagined. That kind of quiet resilience is worth more than the perfect result I thought I wanted.

So, what’s next for me? I’m taking a few weeks to just enjoy summer and enjoy my family and then I will get back to walking, hopefully every day. And as for push-ups…. I hated them but I’m going to keep going. It won’t be every day, like in this challenge; but I will be doing this weekly to hopefully get to that full 15 at some point!