Change......
It's often a scary and daunting process for many.
Which is understandable, because we are creatures of habit.
Habits form when we repeatedly do things without thinking.
It's our default setting.
Unfortunately some of the habits that we develop don't serve us.
That is, they go against some, if not all, of the new goals that we set in life, health, fitness, weight loss, love, whatever.
But it doesn't mean that we have to be stuck following the same habits, patterns or thought processes for the rest of our lives, especially if those habits don't serve us.
To do so would be bordering on the insane.
I believe Einstein said it best when he said "doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different result is insane." - pretty smart bloke I think you'll agree.
If you want to create lasting change you need to create new habits. New habits that serve your health, fitness and lifestyle goals.
But before you can create new habits you have to understand why you are stuck in a loop of doing the same patterns of behaviour.
It's at this point I'd like to mention that I don't like to use the term "bad habits"
Labelling some habits as "bad" can have a very negative effect on the way we feel about ourselves. Negativity vary rarely leads to positive outcomes.
Instead, our habits either serve us or they don't. They either move us towards our goals, or they don't.
Ok now that I've got that out of the way, lets crack on with this article.
If we are to understand why we do something we need to do a bit of self-analysis. This requires a period of time where you ask yourself lots of deep and revealing questions.
Why do I feel like this?
Why do I eat cake when I'm trying to lose weight for my wedding?
What situations cause me to step back into habits that don't serve me?
Ask yourself these questions enough times and eventually you'll find the answers.
Essentially you're looking for triggers behind why you do what you do, despite your best intentions.
Trouble is, many people don't ask themselves these questions because they are afraid of what the answers might be.
Or they are worried that they may start to criticise themselves, further damaging their self esteem.
Thing is, self-discovery isn't self-criticism.
It's a learning process. It teaches us why we do the things we do so. From those lessons we are able to construct habits that better serve us.
As mentioned, change can be scary for a lot of people. We get stuck in our comfort zones going round in an endless loop of same old, same old. Stepping out of our comfort zone can often be frightening.
There's the fear of failure.
Fear of rejection.
Fear of being alone.
And when that fear gets too much we often....
F: Fuck
E: Everything
A: And
R: Run
And pretend that what is eating away at us isn't in fact a big deal.
In effect we bury our head in the sand and hope the problem goes away.
But it doesn't.
It just keeps on eating away at us until we label ourselves a failure.
I can't diet.
I can't lose weight.
I can't do this stupid bloody course.
I can't find a job.
Having been through something like this myself through various points in my life I know just how hard it can be to get out of this negative self talk.
It's tough, it might make you want to cry, and it might make you want to quit. It might even make you want to fuck everything and run.
But when you knuckle down and start a journey of self discovery you'll actually see that fear is simply....
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real
Fear is just the negative things that we say to ourselves on a regular basis. It's become a habit that does not serve us.
Because ultimately, deep down inside you know you're not a failure, you know you're not a bad person, you know you're not "meant to be fat", and you know that you're not unlucky in love. In fact Mrs or Mr Right might be staring you in the face if you just get rid of the inner dialog that keeps you stuck in a loop.
Remember....
Fear is false evidence appearing real.
So the next time you're stuck in a loop of negativity don't fuck everything and run.
Face that fear head on and beat it into submission.
Have an awesome day,
MK 🙂
