Should you question what you're doing?
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.”
-Winston Churchill
You’ve been trying this food group for awhile, this medication for quite some time (or supplement), been told this food will give you more energy, and that exercise will help you tone up/lose weight (however you want to call it). At what point and for how long do you try this? How do you know if it’s working? Or perhaps it’s worked for a bit and now you feel like you’re at a standstill, and your time & energy is precious! And this isn’t always easy- we have life, vacations, events, traumas, all intervene with those goals so even though we know life isn’t linear, there may be a small part of us that still believes in all that we can control. I’ve been there.. there was a point in my life not too long ago I knew I was doing so much right yet results were slow- like waaay too slow for comfort.
At this point we may start to question why we’re even striving to be healthy, and maybe even question other aspects of our lives until we spiral down into this place of getting ready to purchase a one way ticket to the Bermuda triangle. And in all seriousness, this is a legit signal that something is not aligned- but like those very general concerns of sleepless nights and pants not quite zipping up all the way, it can take a little time to realize these blocks. This apprehensive feeling can affect us by going off our typical diet or a skipped day at the gym, which unfortunately results in a ‘I know I need to get back into this’ cycle of us beating ourselves up, which then makes these feats seem like punishment instead of reward, and extend to other parts of our life. Maybe your doctor, friends, family, or anyone else in your life said ‘you need to hit this goal’ - or it could have been you!
In weight loss, our fat cells absorb some water weight even though they’ve lost some fat, yet at some point signals have to align in order to let the body know it can release water. However, if we are unable to identifying those factors of why we’re going to make a change, and then veer off to the Bermuda triangle or unsure of how to navigate changes when ‘life happens’, what could have gotten the scale to move or our parts to fit now places us a few steps back from that moment. No worries! If we know how to look at the situation objectively, understand ‘life’ can happen again and have tools in place to get back on track, our body will adjust with us and that next step forward is like shining stars, organs playing, type of epiphany!
Here are 3 strategies to have in place the moment doubt starts to set in:
-gratitude for where you’ve come from
-intrinsic motivation/trust your gut
-life hygiene- good sleep, good food for a bit
Gratitude of how far you’ve come- Just like at some point where you are now may have taken mindfulness and effort, at some point it became comfortable & automatic. Like learning a new subject in school, driving, a gym class- anything new takes time and effort to learn, and eventually automate. However, when we take even a few moments to express our gratitude it decreases our stress response, which clears our mind and what may enter may actually be a strategy to help you re-focus and even help expedite your path. Just start with 3 things. In that knowing that as far as you’ve come in whatever journey, there was a point in time where maybe this wasn’t even thought of, but you’re still living. Let’s work on getting to what that next level may look like.
Know why you started- I’m talking that deep down, unrelenting reason, where you fill with joy and excitement every time you think of that reason of why you’ve decided to eat another bite of veggies, go to the gym, drink some more water, and go to bed at a more reasonable hour. This reason is for you, why you can’t be talked out of this commitment. It may be obvious, or may take some time to identify. Use these questions and get curious about the many aspects in your life and how they work together to create this present moment. This can be done too on a vacation of your choosing- doctor’s orders :D
Just keep going- I know.. probably not the answer you’d like to hear, but in forging through we are also creating new habits and patters in our brain that is a source of comfort (instead of fear) where our stress levels eventually begin to dissipate and we can think clearly. In that clarity, you may have deeper realizations about how much more you can achieve with health, get excited, and then have that moment that now you’re thinking about how else you can achieve your goals (versus focusing on this one roadblock). Enter the phenomena that the moment we come to peace with something we get a result. You can read more about this in Law of Attraction.
There’s a quote I have as the background of my phone that says, “I didn’t say it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it.” Changing your diet means you’re asking a huge quest of yourself! You’re asking yourself to live differently, interact with others differently, and it can be unnerving and sometimes challenging enough to the point that we do (and very normally) wonder why we’re even doing this as other foods or habits are taking over our thoughts. And if they do, great. If not, great. Pay attention to these times so you can learn what you need to recalibrate in that moment where you are wondering if it’s all worth it. And I’d love to hear your inspirations, so let me know below what keeps you on track!