Getting Started with the Right Mindset
Very few people have their health in a perfect place. And that's fine. Optimal health is a lifelong journey - not a destination.
We strive to improve ourselves and our habits, which paves the way for us to live longer and happier lives. This idea of a "lifelong journey" may sound overwhelming, but it should be refreshing. We don't need to be perfect. We should expect challenges along the way. It's life.
Many of these challenges will be minor. Others may be significant and may derail us for an extended period of time. Again, that's okay. We just want to keep the overall momentum leaning forward.
Mindset
We need to have the right mindset going into any journey. Especially a journey like this. We can't take an "all-or-nothing" approach. That's a guaranteed path to failure.
Stress
Stress occurs when our reality differs from our expectations. Think about running into construction on your way to an appointment. You thought it was going to take 20 minutes. Now it's going to take 30 minutes and you'll be late. You weren't expecting it, now you're stressed.
If you had left early, anticipating the possibility of traffic or construction, your stress level would be much lower.
The same mindset should be applied to your health journey. There will be unexpected traffic and construction along the way. Do be surprised. Don't let it blow up your efforts.
So where do you start?
If you want to get from point A to point B, you need to identify point A. What's your starting point? How will you know what work needs to be done if you don't know where you're starting?
Look at your current situation. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being horrible and 10 being awesome), how would you rate your current eating habits? Why would you rate them that? What are you doing well? Where could you improve?
What are your biggest challenges with eating? Eating too much or not enough? Are junk foods an issue? Alcohol? Are weekends or special occasions particularly challenging?
Once you have an idea of the biggest obstacles with your eating habits, evaluate how big of a change would be required for each one. Is it realistic to completely stop going out on weekends? How about packing your own lunch? Could you get rid of junk food around the house?
Lowest hanging fruit
The last thing you want to do is try to tackle all these issues at the same time. Changing multiple habits at once substantially decreases your likelihood of success. You need to pick the lowest hanging fruit.
What would be a simple change? Maybe packing your lunch wouldn't be too big of a problem. Maybe cutting out wine on weekdays is pretty reasonable. Start there. Give it a try for two weeks. If you're successful, great! Try to make another positive change.
Did you struggle? No problem, make your goal more reasonable (maybe packing your lunch 2 days per week instead of all five).
Keep in mind the time frame we're dealing with is THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. Obviously, we'd love a beach body immediately. We want to get off medications tomorrow. But the reality is that it took us time to develop our current habits. It will take time to form new ones to get to where we want to be. Embrace the journey.
Action Steps
Acknowledge the reality of what you're trying to accomplish, acknowledge the certainty that challenges will arise.
Evaluate your Point A (where you are) and Point B (where you want to be).
Find the simplest (least stressful) change you can make. Start there and get going!