TAKING THOSE FIRST STEPS TO THE NEW YOU
Acknowledgment and contemplation of wanting to change is the necessary stage for changing our behaviours towards a goal. Whether a severe health issue prompts the thought of making changes, lack of energy, poor sleep or maybe you want to lose a few kilos to fit into an old pair of jeans you’ve been reluctant to throw away.
Whatever the reason for the changes, you need to dig deep into why you want to work towards the goal by aligning your identity and values to the destination (how you imagine yourself in say six months) or any changes made will not be sustainable.
The thought of making a change can be intimidating and scary. I can relate to this because I’ve been there myself. You may have health reasons, or feel that you should make changes for social reasons. You may feel ambivalent towards change as you are happy doing what you have always done, enjoying the foods you have always eaten and so on. Anyway, all this is totally normal. Change can put us out of our comfort zone.
The next stage is preparation when you are starting to make plans towards a goal in the foreseeable future. You start to read articles and blogs, scroll through instagram and talk to your family and friends. However you may feel that you are still not sure how to go about making the changes necessary to move toward your goal.
Then finally one day, something resonates with you; suddenly you have a ‘light bulb moment’. It’s time to take action!
For change to be sustainable and lasting we need to break down our ‘destination goal’ into smaller manageable pieces or skills and daily actions. Identifying a small daily action that we are ready, willing and able to do consistently will then become a new habit. As we layer or stack these new habits we will notice that we are making progress towards our goal and maybe, hopefully, discover that we are enjoying the process along the way.
Leave a Reply