Taking it off the Page
1/6/16 – Three years ago
When I think about the things I would like to change this year, the list is a mile long. BUT the number is irrelevant. The execution is what’s important.
I thought my lack of appetite during my cold helped me drop a few pounds. It didn’t. I still crave breakfast pizza, even if my stomach jiggles all day, and energy drinks, even if they make my eyesight funny. I must be crazy. I feel like deep down in my soul I know what I have to do. I know I have to give up drinking almost totally—a feat not easily done with my current plans/lifestyle/friends. I know I have to get my body back to basics, back to the place where it isn’t constantly fighting off the toxins I stuff it with, back to the place where it can heal. I don’t know why I expect my body to act differently if I don’t change anything. Eating less but still eating the same junk, drinking less but still drinking alcohol daily, bringing home a treadmill but always being too sick, tired, lazy to use it…I’m the only thing standing in my way, and I keep doing it.
So, what are the biggest areas I would like to change?
1. Health
2. Weight
3. Writing
Present day 2019
Resolution (according to Google): a firm decision to do or not to do something; or the quality of being determined or resolute.
1/24/19
When we make New Year’s resolutions (or any resolutions, for that matter), that “firm decision” doesn’t usually go any farther than the page it was written on.
We want the fresh start symbolically offered by the new year, so we think it’s the perfect time to fix ourselves. This time we’ll get the gym membership and force ourselves to go so it’s not a waste of money. This time we’ll eat our vegetables with every meal and order those fancy, pre-made protein shakes from the skinny woman who replaced two meals a day with something out of a shaker bottle and lost twenty pounds. This time we’ll get up a half hour earlier than we did last year so we can do a workout video, or read more, or pursue our true hobbies and interests before going to our day jobs.
This time writing a few lines on a piece of paper about what we want will be enough.
Only it seldom is. The words, the declaration, are an important first step, but how do we get them off the page and into real life?
The Minimalists support my point with their article How to Make a Damn Decision about changing “should” to “must.” Still just a matter of words, but the first step to change is always setting the intention.
“Once you understand the necessity for change on an emotional level, you are able to turn your shoulds into musts. To accomplish this, we must begin to associate enough pain with our current circumstances and then equate immense pleasure with our new outcome. A mixture of enough pain combined with enough pleasure—this is how we change our shoulds into musts.”
Their suggestion to associate pain with our current circumstances and pleasure with our new one is the catalyst. If the words are the first spark in the fire, the association is the fan on the flames. It breathes life into the words and gives them meaning in the world, not just on the page. From there we’re much more inclined to act, particularly if we’ve festered long enough in the situations we don’t want, and felt those which we do course through our veins with a life of their own.
So, if you must write resolutions, or just want to get clear about what needs to change, I suggest reading their article and taking their advice. There will always be a thousand things we should do, but SHOULD just isn’t enough.
My Must List: Listen to my heart; it will lead me where I need to go.