“Making a lifestyle change is your decision. You can choose to look better, feel better, slow the aging process, boost your energy, productivity, memory level, and decrease stress and depression. Or not.” walkstyles.com May 2013
Change, just like attitude, it’s all up to me. Are there things I’d like to change in my life? absolutely. Do I usually lack the motivation to make those changes? probably. Even when I know that even a small change would result in all kinds of goodness it’s very hard to let go of what I’m doing and commit to making that change. I make promises to myself that I don’t keep and find myself back at the beginning of the process on Monday morning.
Sometimes what we really need is a way to just get started. I am reminded of the 5 minute rule whenever I work with new walkers struggling to find the time to commit to their poles. It’s a handy little rule that makes it easy to take the little steps that big changes require.
Give yourself the gift of five minutes to start your walk, not to eat the cookie, call that friend for a date or decompress with some deep breaths. At the end of the five minutes you can either stay the course or stop, your choice. I’ll bet you’ll find that most of the time you will feel so good that you’ll keep going and you’ll be successful.
We can all make healthy lifestyle changes. We can build on each success, choice after choice, until the change has become part of our daily routine and eventually our lifestyle. That’s when it’s fun, when you don’t have to think about it anymore, it’s just part of who you are!