Changing Habits for a Healthier Lifestyle
Changing habits is hands down the most complicated concept to embrace when you are going through your health journey, and it is one of the most undiscussed topics of health and wellness. The psychological changes go much deeper than we perceive them to be on the surface. When I am working with a client, I try to find the easiest habits that they can change without overwhelming them. Often, I look at ideas such as posture or simple habits, like keeping your feet straight or eating a hard-boiled egg in the morning, that someone can do to help establish an easy habit to get the overall gist of dictating change.
There is a saying that it takes 21 days to start a new habit, but I think that is give or take, and depending on what it is, it can take much less or much longer.
Habit Changes Are Not Always Black and White
Sometimes things are not black and white. What needs to be changed can be simply the idea of improvement or correction of something you have done wrong over a long-term period. You do not have to be perfect to get results, and that is one of the hardest things to teach clients right away.
Once a client starts to see results, they want to go to the next level, but it is really hard to configure a group of habits that are manageable and will show them results. In most instances, it is less about energy and more about feeling a little better in the morning or feeling more confident, which can take someone to the next level. Once a client starts to connect the dots and get the ball rolling, habits are then in place, followed by results.
The Power of Small Habit Changes
There is no question that you cannot change everything at once. Being overwhelmed quickly will make you feel defeated and unable to sustain yourself, but if you change that one little thing every week, those weeks add up over the years. Too much change at once is why people do not sustain diets. One of the most complex parts is to understand where to challenge someone without overwhelming them and how to make progress. The truth is that the better you get, the more you find wrong, and sometimes this is very overwhelming as a concept.
Real-Life Transformations Through Health and Wellness
I have had people lose over 100–200 pounds in body weight, and some have completely transformed their bodies, and they have come from the most minor changes. One of my favorite questions to people who have lost that kind of weight was, “Was it that hard?” They always say, “No, just mentally challenging at first, but not physically hard.” It takes discipline and desire to change, but more importantly, it takes understanding and confidence to know it will change.
It is nice to have someone helping you understand what is happening in the process, so you do not get discouraged because different things happen at various points. We constantly have that angel and demon on our shoulders telling us to do multiple things. The angel says, “Do not eat that cupcake and wait to eat a nice, healthy dinner.” The demon tells you, “Eat three cupcakes. Who cares? Live a little.” Now I am not advocating that there is a literal (more metaphorical) angel and demon on your shoulder, but it is the voices we deal with that have to be understood. It is probably the most important part of habit change.
Discipline is more of a byproduct rather than the leading factor. The same goes for the whole idea of motivation. You do not have to be overly motivated to make changes. Instead, understanding the purpose of why you are doing it and feeling good, being in less pain, and living a better life is an excellent foundation. Do not get me wrong, sometimes there is a detox and pain period you have to push through, but I promise there is a pot of gold on the other side of the rainbow. Anything in life that you must do right is challenging and complicated, and that never changes. But it is worth it.
Peeling Back the Layers of Habit Changes
Sometimes, in the process of change, you find and discover things along the way that you did not know were a problem, and they need to be dealt with in some way, shape, or form. When you are losing weight or making a habit change, it is almost like peeling back an onion. Sometimes, that onion has layers that you did not know existed. So, I will refer clients to different doctors or therapists. When you come to that roadblock, you have to have the courage to strip yourself down, and it is tough. Sometimes you are stuck there for a little while, but slowly you rebuild yourself.
Living Healthy Through Habit Changes
Living a healthy life is one of the most rewarding things in the world. It is more now than ever, like being in the 1% of being a millionaire. Being healthy today is not easy if you just go by society’s flow, but if you make conscious efforts to make small habit changes, you will be surprised by the progress you can make in your health and wellness. The quality of life that can improve is immeasurable.
Like anything in life, sometimes you have to go backward to go forward. Whether you are detoxing from sugar or alcohol, or you are changing the way you walk, sometimes there is a price to pay for doing things wrong for years. On the other side of it is a life that you may not have ever thought you could live.
One of my favorite sayings is, “Do not be afraid to strip yourself down and be bad at something new because the build-up is one of the most beautiful parts of life and the rediscovery of a part of you that you did not know existed.”
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