Change… easier said than done!
Finding the courage to make the change may sound like a simple task, but most of the time we say things to show courage but never put them in to action. Last year when I began my journey to self care, yes, it’s totally a thing that I didn’t even know that was needed in my life. It started when I read the book “Girl, Wash Your Face” while on a family cruise. Actually, I even shared the lessons learned from Girl Wash your Face to help inspire you to read the book as well. The following months were filled with books from the “personal development” section of BAM, which I used to refer to as “self help.” Self help!? Ha, I would laugh at the word and question the people who thought they needed self help? Was it a fad or a real thing? Often I would hear words like meditate and mindfulness, which flowed in one ear and out the other. My actual thought was why would someone like me need this in my life? It’s not that I have been putting myself on the back burner for the past 15 years since I said ‘I do’ — boy, was I wrong!
I thought that I was doing pretty good on my own, but found myself with crippling headaches, neck and jaw pain and extreme fatigue.
As I did more research on Rachel Hollis and started reading her book recommendations, I had an “aha moment” and faced the harsh truth that maybe I needed to invest some time into my self-care. Don’t get me wrong, I got my hair cut every 6 months or so and had pedicures in the summer months, but apparently that wasn’t enough for my body to feel satisfied.
After reading multiple books, I thought that I had it all figured out and started sharing my experiences. Sharing my knowledge and trying to implement some of the tactics here and there into my life. I wasn’t really being consistent with my daily routine, but I was doing a great job sharing all of the resources in my online community. I even wrote Why you need to practice self care and would preach self-care as if it was the saving grace. However, I was talking the talk and wasn’t walking the walk.
The headaches and pains continued and one day on the phone with my sister she mentioned that maybe I should try some of the ideas that I am sharing. She totally called me out. In my mind, I thought I was trying them but batching self-care into a few hours a week just wasn’t making the cut. I was trying to sneak self care into my daily schedule and it was hit or miss and was definitely not part of my daily routine. I have read and listened over the past year to the word consistency and routine, but found myself living out the “Cliff Notes” version. Things had to change.
Rachel Hollis recently explained during a conference that It’s not about five seconds of courage. We all can find the willpower to find five minutes of courage, we need to show up every day and build consistency to get through. Consistency is the way you hold all of it together. It doesn’t matter how intense you are, what matters is that you show up and keep showing up even when it gets hard. Create habits and routines that you can create in any environment that ultimately serve you and your lifestyle. If that means waking up a little bit earlier to meditate or exercise than try it out. It is impossible to squeeze in self-care practice here and there to reap the benefits. It actually comes down to a few things like having courage to make the change and to be consistent with it.
Create leverage to stay consistent on the days when consistency is hard. In order to do that, it has to become a habit. Build such incredible habits so you don’t need to get motivated. Consistency is not how you motivate yourself, but rather create habits and rituals that are so close to your core that it’s easier to do them than not.
You must have the right mindset. And you know what, if you fall off the track and steer another direction, have the grace to tell yourself “I will try again tomorrow”.
In order to do all of this you need to make the first move. As John Maxwell stated during his presentation on courage. The old riddle that says five frogs are sitting on a log. Four decide to jump off. How many are left?
The answer is 5 because they only “decided” and didn’t take action. That was how I lived the last year of my life. Now that I am taking action, it’s an entirely different mindset. I still have a long way to go in my personal development journey, but the baby steps that I am taking each and every day has been a blessing to my health. The secret is keeping the routine — that’s a one minute mediation (still not able to move to 5), some yoga stretches, and writing down gratitude to set intention for the day. That’s not the only thing that I had to change, but it was a good start. There were also my favorite products to help reduce stress that were part of my daily routine.
Remember, we are only in control of two things in life: our attitude and our effort. So, not matter what you are looking to change in your life, it starts with a small step. Stop just sitting on the log or talking the talk.
Find the courage to take one step forward in achieving your goals and start “walking the walk.” Come back and share your journey with us or connection with use on social media