I hate treadmills. I’m not a morning person. Brussels sprouts—YUCK! I sink when I try to swim.
It is a new year, and as you plan a fresh start I suspect that phrases like those are part of your vocabulary, as well as mine. We decide on a new course of action because we want better results than we have experienced before. We are asking ourselves to try something different. There is usually a reason why we haven’t tried (or persisted) in the past. That reason may be rooted in our self-concept, our likes, and more importantly, our dislikes.
There is a temptation to see ourselves as immutable beings after a certain age, especially when it comes to preferences, biorhythms, and skills. I like a food or not. I swim or not. Get up at 5am or not. It’s in my DNA. Old dog. New tricks.
Personal experience has proven otherwise for me. I started getting up early when I fell in love with running and lived in the desert. I wanted to run in summer and needed to rise before dawn. I have been a morning person for 30 of my 60-plus years. Running emerged as a passion again in later life. I lived in a winter climate, and entered a love affair with the treadmill. It continues strong after 10 years. The swimming lessons that made a difference date back less than a year; I am now planning on a triathlon. I don’t remember when I made friends with Brussels sprouts, but I love them most when roasted.
I share those experiences because they are real and because they surprised me. Since making friends with morning long ago, however, I hear myself differently. When an inner voice says I can’t because “that’s the way I am,” I stop. I challenge it. I make a project of making friends with the enemy. It took a long, long time to make a project of swimming; I can't over-state the joy of turning it around. Public speaking is next.
What nemesis might you confront in the new year? Which one stands in the way of an important goal? It might have to do with activity. With eating. With scheduling. With a relationship. Explore the territory and consider making it a project. I find myself humming a tune we sang in my Girl Scout troop: “Make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.”
Until the next time, go well.
Pam
www.wellbuddies.com
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2 comments:
Great thoughts Pam! I completely agree. My challenge this year is to tackle some of my internal "I can't" language and try, try again, using kind language to myself and finding the resources I need to tackle any challenge that seems daunting!
It's always a mystery to me what stimulus changes the chain of events from negative thinking and no action to "try again, a different approach and start seeing life's challenges as positive again. At age 67, I recognize the roller coaster of ups and downs that occur...sometimes the down remain for what seems "forever"...then, something creates a spark of new or fresh insight and wow...growth occurs!
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