As I shared last week, I love a good challenge. I am not talking about an in-the-moment dare to do something crazy. But rather a thoughtfully planned, thirty or so day challenge to do something that helps me grow and change. But even though challenges are great because they jumpstart us short-term, they can still be hard.
Challenges are hard, because change is hard.
Whether you have jumpstarted your 2020 with a Challenge, or you’ve gone the traditional route of modifying your habits to help you reach your goals—by now, I know you are feeling this. Cutting out indulgences, or being disciplined to do the daily actions we’ve committed to, is not easy. And the battle is not one simply of physical action; change is a huge mind game.
The battle is not one simply of physical action; change is a huge mind game.
That is why today I want to share with you some things I have learned about making changes and completing challenges. These are truths that I have to remind myself when I get to the hard part of implementing new behaviors. For me, it is kind of similar to when I used to lead service trips for teenagers.
As a youth pastor, I used to lead teens and adults on service trips both domestically and abroad. Usually, the trips were just over a week long. And on every one, around Tuesday night, most of our team (including me), would begin to unravel. All the adrenaline that had been pumping since we began the trip had subsided, and we’d feel cranky and tired. Sometimes, we’d even want to go home. But after doing enough of these trips, I realized that if we did our best to push through Wednesday—things would look so much better on Thursday.
When we make changes in our lives, we hit walls…Inexperience will tell us, we’re done…but we can push through to a better day.
When we make changes in our lives, we hit walls similar to what our teams would hit on those Tuesday and Wednesdays. Inexperience will tell us, we’re done. Exhaustion or crankiness, will tell us there is no way we can continue. But if we just remember these three things, we will find we can push through and make it to a better day:
Habits can be changed by disrupting them.
In the book, The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg breaks down the components of a sustainable habit. He says there is always a cue that leads us to do a certain behavior. For example, we pick up our phone (cue), and before we know it we’re checking our socials (behavior). We begin to feel tired at three in the afternoon (cue), we get a cup of coffee (behavior). But he says, we can change our behaviors by noticing our cues, and then disrupting them. I’ve heard some people say they make themselves play a game of solitaire before checking socials. Others, go for a walk instead of grabbing that cup of coffee. If you’re trying to change a behavior this year, look for its cue and then disrupt it by doing something else.
Our bodies will adapt, we just need to give them time.
Our bodies are amazing. They are way more adaptable than we realize. For example, when it comes to food—our bodies crave what we give them. This means if we only eat healthy foods, we’ll only crave healthy foods. However, when we’re trying to break our sugar addiction or kill junk food cravings, our bodies don’t give up without a fight. That is why we need to be strong and remember, that the negative effects of detoxing are temporary. (See this article for more on this)
Ignoring all the feelings our changes bring up, isn’t the answer.
As I shared on Monday, change can unleash a storm of emotions inside of us. Especially, if we’re trying to cut out the very things we used to numb them. That is why, when we feel all the things in the midst of implementing change in our lives, we need to listen to our emotions. Perhaps we need to journal them, talk about them with a friend, or even see a counselor. Our emotions have a big role to play in helping us get to the place we want to be. Don’t ignore them.
What is your main point on your journey to change?
How might remembering one or all of these things help you continue to press on?
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