Change is Hard

The change I’m proposing you make is the harder one.

When I started A Healthful Life, I had a nightmare of a time figuring out how to convey to people that I wanted to create custom tailored programs for them to find THEIR health. In a way that would last.

When I got hurt, I was really blessed to have a group of people advocating for my health and encouraging me to think about how I wanted my health to look over the longevity of my life. 

This is the difference between you and me: I don’t approach fitness from the standpoint that this is a 30 day and done program. I don’t view this as a temporary aspect of my life. I don’t see this as something I can “take a break from” or let up on.

I know that if I let my workouts go, if I let my eating go, my health will immediately go and I will know that because chronic pain will absolutely debilitate me. I know the potential consequences are not worth the risk.

However, I also know that most people don’t approach health in the same way as me. We, as a fitness industry, have established a standard of the quick fix with no road map of how to maintain the results you achieved.

Meeting someone where they’re at and creating change in a realistic way turned out to be the easy part. The hard part was getting the person on board with the change taking longer than what they wanted.

It means being patient and it means being willing to fail. You have to be willing to try things, see how they work and change them when they don’t. Which means you can’t beat yourself up when you try something and it doesn’t work, you have to be flexible and adaptable to try something different.

I get the appeal of the fast change. The instantaneous results. You want that fast result because you’ve taken so long to change that by now, you wanted that change like yesterday. You don’t want to take the time to make change that will last for the long term. It’s the “I just need to lose 15 pounds” but not thinking past what happens AFTER you lose 15 pounds. 

What I teach is not the temporary, rigid, give up your whole life change just to drop a few pounds. It’s the change that will teach you how to effectively incorporate healthy habits into your life, so you feel like you have balance and you’re not deprived of the things you love.

So you feel like you’re thriving and not surviving.

So you don’t make a drastic change just to lose it a year later when you permanently fall off the wagon, because you gave up too much and couldn’t take it.

I want you to know health as just life. Not a sacrifice, not an inconvenience, but just how you live your life. Healthy, sustainable change means taking the long road. It means trial and error to find what truly works the best for you, and being able to have the skills necessary to make changes when your life changes.

Be proud of your progress

Be proud of your progress. 

We have this habit of getting caught up with what the end goal will look like and anything less than that isn’t good enough. As a coach, seeing this line of thinking in action makes me sad. We let that negative narrative invade our thoughts and it impedes our progress because our best will never be good enough.

I have never seen people be so negative or so critical of themselves than when they are in my space. That talk has no place with me. That talk is the kind of talk we get rid of FAST when we work together. 

Being healthy, for me, is about the journey not the destination. Mostly because the destination continually moves. Every time I hit a goal, I re-evaluate and give myself another goal. So this journey to being healthy, having balance and getting strong is ever evolving. As it should right? Because I am ever evolving and growing.

The last thing you need when you’re actively trying to do what’s best for you so you can give to others is to criticize your effort. Workouts will never be perfect, days are going to get the best of you, eating healthy can be frustrating AF sometimes, and you’re going to fall off the wagon with it ALL. But that does not mean you should start talking shit about yourself. If you go down that road, it’s going to be even harder for you to reincorporate those healthy habits. You’re self sabotaging. Knock it off.

When that ever evolving aspect becomes your health journey, you have to focus on the progress you’ve made, not where you think you should be. Go and write down 10 things you’ve accomplished for yourself on this journey that you never thought possible. Oh I’m not kidding Boo. Go and do it. And refer back to that list, add to that list, and remind yourself that you’re doing more than most people will do all day, all week, all year.

Think back to that first day you took control or took back control of your health and how much you’ve accomplished since that day.

Don’t discount that hard work and effort. Celebrate it and look forward to all your next steps.