It is perfectly normal to struggle with making a change to your lifestyle or habits; and lucky for you, there are a couple of things you can do to keep the ball rolling.
Slow your roll, friend
Taking up a new goal usually comes with a boost of motivation for about the first week, then reality sets in, and your big plans of giving way to the gym for 2 hours every day of the week turn into endless hours of tv surfing.
The phrase “your eyes were bigger than your mouth”, come to play here. You are entirely capable of stretching your mental limits to a level before your head and body gang up on you.
Take it easy on yourself, if you are trying to do too much, break it down into smaller chunks. It is better to stretch a goal timeline out a couple weeks than to throw it away.
Take a Day Off
You don’t have to feel bad or guilty about taking a day for yourself from time to time. Our brains are naturally hardwired to resist change, and when we push too much, it often leads to fatigue and a lack of motivation.
Taking little breaks tend to give us a chance to reflect on what is causing the resistance to the desired goal or change. It also allows you to refill your motivation battery to get going again.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, give yourself a couple hours, or even a day, to read some motivational articles/books/quotes, meditate, and reflect on what has caused your discomfort. Take the time to get to know yourself, what makes and breaks you, and what gets you going.
Practice Mindfulness
What exactly triggers you to fall off the wagon and into the well of inactive despair?
Knowing the situations or actions that cause you to sway is a step in the direction of controlling your environment and mastering self-discipline. Finding ways to sidestep these triggers also strengthens your resolve and leaves you with a map to successfully make changes in your life no matter the challenges involved.
Mindfulness also helps you to better evaluate the processes of how you do things, making it easier to improve your routine and techniques.
This makes life a whole lot easier in general.
Staying on Track
The strain of coming behind on something important and challenging that you want to achieve can be disabling; it can create avoidance techniques, depression, and ultimately derail your goals. If you are beginning to feel the weight of your intentions and the stress of the challenge that came along with them, don’t throw in just yet!
Susan has an emerging specialty of getting great results for runners and fitness walkers. She enjoys sharing the knowledge she has gained through greatly improving her vitality and her 10k times with the support of whole foods nutrition. Susan works in partnership with her clients, providing them with new solutions, inspiration, and insights.