I thought you may need some inspiration on this rainy Monday.
A few weeks ago, I had an appointment with a beautiful young client that came to me for weight loss as well as few other issues such as inflammation, migraines and cravings.
She hadn’t been seeing any progress over the last couple of sessions.
She was very forthright about why she wasn’t getting the results.
She was struggling with various stressors that were distracting her from doing what she needed to do to achieve her goals.
On top of that, some physical things weren’t being addressed such as not drinking enough water and sluggish bowels.
I was witnessing the makings of a perfect storm; all of the elements were present for throwing in the towel.
Not seeing results is always a really frustrating place to be.
We talked about several things during that appointment.
The first thing was to realign with her values.
It’s much easier to stay committed when your goals are aligned with your values.
The main reason that brought her to this work was because she wanted to lose a little weight.
However, once we started to dig a little deeper, we uncovered some bigger reasons that were easier for her to get behind.
She has a young family and wants to be at her best for her people. She wants to prevent health problems down the road and she wants to set a good example and a strong foundation for her growing family.
Pretty noble reasons for undertaking a health journey in my books.
Realigning with those values made it easier to recommit.
The second thing we discussed was something I call saboteur work.
We all have saboteurs. Their job is to keep us safe and maintain the status quo.
Again, they’re there to keep us safe but they aren’t very discerning and they perceive ANY change as dangerous.
As soon as we’re on the brink of making a lasting change, the saboteurs get squirrelly and their voices start piping up.
Your saboteur is particularly adept at taking a small piece of truth and stretching, twisting and distorting that truth into a powerful argument against committing to a path of transformation and positive change.
Saboteur voices often sound something like this: ‘forget it’, ‘it’ll never work’ , ‘just quit now’, ‘just one piece won’t hurt…’ and they all add up and the next thing you know, you’re back to square one
Not a fun place to be.
Recognizing that these voices are just stories and not the absolute truth is a giant step towards reaching your goals.
Once you start recognizing these stories, you can then change the rhetoric to something that is more aligned with your goals.
Where the mind goes – man follows.
The next time we met, she had lost another 4 lbs after being ‘stuck’ for over a month. She was back on track and moving towards her goal.
Here’s what she did to turn things around:
She took care of the physical stuff; started drinking more water and was mindful of keeping her bowels regular.
The other thing she did was turn down the pressure.
We tend to be our own worst critics especially when we buy into our saboteur stories.
She reminded herself that this wasn’t a race and that she had a whole lifetime to perfect her new healthy habits.
Instead of buying into her ‘old stories’ she decided to try a different approach.
She slacked off on the pressure, stopped being so rigid and self-critical.
Finally, she decided to make a few relatively small changes that were not perfectly aligned with her plan but that allowed her to enjoy the process a lot more.
She essentially allowed herself a few strategic small ‘cheats’ in the spirit of staying the course and ensuring sustainability.
Sometimes the smallest changes have the most profound effect.
I translate this as being kind and gentle…
It worked
Her body responded and she’s back on track and very close to her goal.
I hope you choose to believe in yourself.
