-or- making the change stick
So in the month or so that I have earnestly been striving to improve my health I have stumbled upon a discovery. I have finally realized how to make it stick.
I can't tell you the number of times I have started working out, and gone good for a week or two. Maybe even three. But then it starts to fall apart. And the reason is simple. I was forcing myself to make a change.
And when you are forcing yourself to make a change on a daily basis, you just get tired of it. It becomes more than a chore. It becomes a burden.
But when it becomes a way of life, suddenly the burden is lighter. See, when I head in to the hospital, I park on the top level of the parking garage. Not because I have to (there are often even spaces on the ground level), but because that is just what I do. I then run down the 8 filghts of stairs to the ground level. Not becuase I am making myself take the stairs, just because I don't take the elevator. It is simply something I don't do.
I haven't taken an elevator in over a month, and I average 70 flights of stairs a day. But it no longer feels like a chore. It isn't a decision I make every time. I don't even look at the elevator, or even notice them anymore. I know where all the stair wells are and which ones will get me where I need to go fastest. But not because I am forcing myself. I have simply convinced myself it is my way of life to take the stairs.
When I go to the store I park at the back of the lot. It is just what I do.
I don't eat anything after 8:00 pm. Not because I have to force myself not to. I just don't. That is my way of life now.
There are lots of other changes I have made in the past month. But the most important ones are the changes in the way I think. I don't view going to exercise as something I make myself do, any more than taking a pee is something I make myself do. It is just part of the daily routine.
And you know what? This sort of mindset has made all the difference in the world.
