The Journey: Kick-starting ‘change in your life’
By Samantha Brazie, The Journey
If you missed the first article of “The Journey” in The Paper last month, quick recap: my name is Samantha and I am here to help motivate and inspire hope around weight loss and body image. Through the last eight years, I have lost 100+ pounds, gained 100+ pounds and lost … well, you get it. I’m still on this journey and will be for my whole life as will a lot of people in one way or another.
This month, I would like to talk about change. Change is one of the hardest things any of us will do in any part of our lives. Most of the time change is forced upon us, but sometimes – when something is important enough to us, we make a decision to change. That in itself is a huge step … but what is hardest is committing to that change in the long term. How many people on average do you think implement their New Year’s resolutions in the long term? Statistics say 80% DON’T.
So, here are a few pointers to help you implement change in your life – geared towards weight loss but can be applied to many areas of life.
Focus on a change of heart, not a change of mind. This can come from a positive and empowering standpoint, or from a fear of loss (not wanting to get sick or feel left out for example).
Strengthen your self-discipline. From a weight loss perspective, this can come from tracking your food through an app such as My Fitness Pal or wearing a fitness tracker to count calories burned/steps taken.
Limit highly processed/sugary foods. Eating whole foods and limiting sugar not only helps with weight loss, but also helps stabilize mood and energy levels.
Learn from your past, don’t punish yourself for it. All of us make mistakes, but what makes us better is whether we learn and change our behavior or continue the same cycle. If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you’re getting. Punishing yourself does not fix anything, it just makes you feel worse about something you can’t do anything about anymore. So move on and make an adjustment that you won’t feel bad about next time.
Surround yourself with positivity. Jim Rohn is quoted as saying, “You are an average of the five people you surround yourself with.” However, I believe that you are the average of everyone that you surround yourself with because circles affect circlers, and so on. Don’t assume your friends and family know what you’re trying to change. Communicate with them so they can support you. If they don’t want to support you, that is their problem – not yours. Focus on people that do.
Above all, know that you can do anything you put your mind to. No obstacle is too big to overcome. You may need to break your goals down into smaller chunks, but you CAN achieve your goals. If you don’t believe in yourself, it makes it very difficult for other people to.
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