We all know that getting started is the hardest part of anything we set out to do. It seems to be especially true when we want to start a health, wellness, or fitness routine. You have to get it stuck in your head before you can get your body engaged. That’s why taking control of your health is as much of a mind game as it is an actual physical action. If your mind isn’t fully on board you’ll find it harder and harder to get up and make yourself do the things you need to do, or to choose the right foods to eat. You’ll find one excuse after another. So, what can you do to get yourself going in the right direction and stay on track?
Use daily journaling. Journaling is a great tool to get yourself going for the day or for an exercise session. Write down how you feel. Write down why you think you’re trying to avoid the routine. And then spend some time writing down words or phrases of the benefits and how over time you will feel much better and it will get easier.
Use affirmations. Affirmations are a great tool to use to help you get off your butt and take care of you. They may seem silly at first. They may even seem like they aren’t true, but the whole point is to change how you think about something. And yes, that takes time.
Maybe you think exercise is hard and not fun. That’s a belief you’ve created in your mind. Changing that to something like, “Exercise is good for my body. I enjoy moving my body,” will take time to get engrained into your brain and create new ways of thinking, but it can be done and writing down your affirmations every single day will help you out tremendously over time. It may take a month or more, so keep at it.
Give yourself daily pep talks. We’re really good at giving ourselves downer talks. Practically everything that comes out of our heads about ourselves seems to bring us down. We have thoughts like, “This will never get easier.” “This isn’t working.” “I will always be overweight and lazy.” And since we tell ourselves these things, we actually believe them.
These daily pep talks go hand in hand with journaling and writing affirmations. Start using it to tell yourself that the routine will get easier, you’re improving your body every day, your body is getting better every day.
Fighting against the mind game may be more difficult than the actual exercise routine you’re trying to do. But until you convince your mind that you’re doing good for your body and how much better you’ll feel, it’s going to make the struggle twice as hard. If this stuff were easy, you’d see everyone out walking and jogging. You’d never see anyone who is overweight and fast-food places would probably go out of business. But it is hard, and you need to equip yourself to tackle the physical issues and the mind issues. Start working on your mind first using the tools and techniques listed above.
All the best,
Patti
