Early Spring is about the time of year that most people realize how difficult it can be to turn your New Year Resolutions into thoughtless habits. Below, we cover what it takes to finally ingrain solid habits around improving your health.
A few things have happened in the past two weeks, with most people gearing up for Mardi Gras, that have really made me reflect on habits in general and our culture here in Acadiana.
While some prepare to set their New Year's resolutions and habits aside for an entire week to gluttonously indulge in alcohol and king cake, others have just been informed that for the next 6 months to a year, they will be fighting for their lives against cancer or reoccurring heart attacks.
Yet, therein lies the "rub":
If goals aren't made necessary internally or externally, they usually don't get achieved.
While most think they must set aside all of their current bad habits and immediately partake in good choices, inevitably, they would be foolish not to acknowledge that habits aren't flicked on or off like a light switch, yet, they are gently coerced in the direction we would like our lives to go.
You first must decide, though.
...Then comes determination.
If you were determined to be a concert pianist, you would determinedly, over time, develop the habits of mind and hands needed to do so.
Most people seem to believe that achievement and maintenance of health are primarily a matter of desire or of sheer willpower.
Or maybe of “talent" or "genetics"...
As Dr. Lee Thayer likes to say:
"Yet, that is simply part of our modern world's b-s."
In reality, people can only perform or achieve at a level that their habits and thinking allow.
We, as humans, simply can't remain who we "are".
We are either BECOMING more or less useful to ourselves or to society as a whole.
Every person, every hour of every day, is in the process of becoming who they are and who they will be.
Health is not a destiny. It is an ongoing process.
We become what we perform in all the small performances of our lives.
We have to live in the consequences of what we do or do not do.
Every circumstance we give attention to will have consequences and we will have to live with whatever those consequences turn out to be.
A change in our perspective and thinking about that is not a one-time fix.
It requires never-ending choices and navigation.
We are, at every moment, either enhancing or diminishing our lives—the law of unintended consequences is always in play.
How to prepare for creating better habits
If you want to slowly move in a better direction, tomorrow, you can start with these three things:
1. Make time for it
Plan what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it. Then when the time comes, make a verbal choice of "yes or no" to yourself.
2. Brace for discomfort
Building a new routine is tough. Changing our habits and health is NOT easy. But, it gets easier. Can you find a way to reframe this challenge?
3. Use accountability to your advantage:
Find a buddy, an app, or a health coach who’s going to hold you to your new routine. You will and should get frustrated at times with this person. That means they are doing their job and not allowing you to default yourself.
If you are currently looking for support or for accountability on your current or future health journey, click below and let us know how we can help.
You need that level of caring in your life.
