Life is filled with times of starting - like starting a new job or starting a new diet. It is also filled with times of stopping like stopping smoking or stopping your membership to the gym. Starts are generally filled with excitement and hope whereas many times stops are filled with discouragement and frustration.
Experiencing life means experiencing starts and stops but what if you were able to start something and continue on until it was like you never lived without it.
I’ve had that experience a few times. I gave up smoking and have maintained that goal for 27 years. (I had a hiccup or two in the first year otherwise, it would have been 28 years ago) That was a stop that was filled with frustration and lots of determination and one of the best choices of my life.
A start that hasn’t stopped and I believe never will, was when I took on a vegan lifestyle. For over 20 years I have been either vegetarian or vegan with some hiccups along the way. 5 years ago I hung up my vegetarian apron and focused whole heartedly on a whole food plant based diet(WFPB). The actuality is that I am more vegan than WFPB and my hope is that will change over the course of this year and that I will fully commit to the healthiest diet for me, which is WFPB, gluten free and eliminating or significantly reducing sugar, oil and salt. I have spent years educating myself and I know this is my best direction. I would like to say in 2030 that I have been WFPB Gluten Free and (Salt, Oil and Sugar)SOS free for 10 years.
But how do you get there from here?
Luckily, I absolutely love cooking this way - so a huge hurdle is lifted for me. And as a Life Coach I am well versed in SMART goals.
I am also versed in the benefits of short and long term goals, journaling, positive reinforcements (I love a good quote, documentary, book and class) and I have support all around me.
As I make my plans I feel ready to move forward. However, there are other pieces to this puzzle. You need to have a strong WHY. And I do, I want to be healthy! I want to feel good! I don’t want to have another heart attack! I want to continue to be heart medication free! Stepping into the WFPB Gluten SOS free lifestyle will help toward that end. But it is not the only piece to obtain my WHY. I need exercise, connection to others, creativity and a strong spiritual base (meditation/prayer etc.)
Goals are wonderful but many times we short change the process. We see with blinders what we want and forget to recognize all that we need to accomplish for our task at hand.
Some questions we can ask ourselves are:
How do I apply my SMART goals to all the pieces of the puzzle?
Am I taking on too much? ie: Change my diet, exercise more, connect with others and become more spiritually aware and present. All at the same time?
Have you thought deeply and specifically about your plans for 2020 and beyond? How have you covered the entire picture and taken off the blinders?
For me, I have begun my forward movement applying creativity to my daily life. My food choices will change completely on January 1 and I have been applying better choices for the past couple of weeks - remembering that it’s not a loss of the foods I love, but a gain of learning to enjoy new foods and changing my pallet. I have reconnected to my meditation practice and it has been wonderful but not everyday yet and I will be attempting to develop my connection with others as I add a new exercise routine. Exercise right now feels like the hardest hurdle in my health transformation. I am at a stopping point with exercise and although I am both frustrated and disappointed with myself I just don’t have the motivation. This will be my biggest challenge this year.
Do you have a challenge you are trying to overcome?
Start this, Stop that… Develop new positive habits, End negative behaviors and habits… It all feels overwhelming and a waste of time. 30% of New Years Resolutions are dropped within the first month and only 40% of people stick to their resolution. So, it appears they are a waste of time. BUT… what if we are in the 40% category. What would that look like? Resolutions are set to make us better. For me feeling good is only part of the story. I have a larger purpose in my plan. It makes me think if I can turn the lense from looking out to looking in and share not only what I learn, but to help others along the way then my WHY becomes more…Moving away from I to We - Hearing with Empathy and Connecting to Others. This mission makes me feel that these changes have purpose and direction and give me a sense that I can be of service to others.
As I look at my plans for 2020 and for the next decade I am preparing to connect to self and others. Each of us has an opportunity to help our larger spiritual Self, our physical self, our emotional self, our intellectual self and in turn share what we know with others. In my case this could lead to a healthy community of people, a healthier environment and less cruelly to animals.
What is your resolution? How can you establish your WHY and is it big enough for you?
Our change today can be a catalyst for a changing world tomorrow!
Let’s make it happen!
Happy New Year!
Lorraine
