CHANGE

 Hello friend!

I was racking my head over what to write about today and the thought of change came to mind. I need change. We need change in our lives in one way or the other. Be it in our habits, lifestyle or attitudes towards something. We all know the change we need-be the change you want to see-Gandhi said that. Despite change being some thing many people want, it hardly comes. Change requires of us to be in uncomfortable situations where we do something that is unlike us. It is this change in feeling-uncomfortable, that leads to less change. Change involves a lot of new challenges and activities, ideas, to do that get us out of our normal usual self. You can't learn something new using an old habit. 

        

For you to change, you have to get out of your comfort zone.

Here is why you should look for change or uncomfortable situations. Some studies show that the brain has a way of being activated when we do something (new)- that is more of a challenge for the first time. It is made to think in new and different ways to get to solve the challenge at hand and on the same time, have improved performance in everything being done. You will agree with me that sometimes we get to brush our teeth all mindlessly. At some point during the day you don’t think about the fact that you have brushed your teeth because they feel as always. But if you miss a day of cleaning then, that’s new, you find yourself at whatever time you have discovered this fact brushing them and really doing it.

 

We are more able to remember things that are novel than those that are more familiar. We have gotten so used to the familiar that we can almost point at the right or even wrong thing absent mindedly. But when it's all new, you get to remember it all more sharper because it is more interesting than what you are familiar with. You will notice when you have taken a cold shower on a very cold winter day more than on a warm one. Your body feels a little different with the flow of cold water on your skin. It's so cold that you might jump. And that, makes your brain kick in and start questioning things and asking if it can manage to just do it despite it being new-it then lands on the decision of bathing warm water and if that isn't available, get out of the bath to heat yourself some just to go back. But that there is being rigid.

 

Our body needs some sort of uncomfortability every once in a while. It helps form new patterns in way of doing things and that keeps everyday interesting and more exciting to carry out. Despite change being something we need, why is it hard?

 

I sometime back read some self-help book on some topic or watch a motivational video about how to be less lazy, or how to wake up early every day, how to have better grades or how to eat as fast as I breathe-Lol. What happens most often than not is that I would follow whatever was offered for a few days or even just for that one day and the following one. I then would go back to the old habit. It is so frustrating when I wake up on some other day feeling determined to follow through some regimen and find that it is the only day I have in the week.

 

With time, I have learnt that the real reason we fail to change sometimes is that we don’t really want to change. We just love the idea of it so much that thinking about it tricks us into thinking we have got it before we even try, if not that, then something like it's too hard to do all this, I would rather go back to doing what I know best. But we all know that old habits won't make some tremendous change as opening new doors. So, if you want some change, you have to really make the choice to say, I want this and then get to do it. It doesn’t matter what outcomes you will have. You just have to dive into the new regimen to find out what will get to happen.

You  have got to be more willing to see the change that might happen or to see how miserably you would fail that to chicken out before you even start or try for other reasons even the common fear of the unknown and laziness. Let fear be your challenge. It could be like a little game to say, who will win this.

 

But if you are deciding to change and just focus on the end result alone then you my friend are heading for failure. You have to enjoy the process. Be in every moment. And in the change you are trying to achieve, be consistent. It's like success and health. You have to work on it consistently. You have to be successful every day, make sure you make healthy decisions every day. Some seemingly overnight successes don’t happen overnight, they happen after months and months of someone working on their project. It gets hard, if it's easy anyone can do it. And don’t ever say life is fair because whether you think its fair or not, you are right. And as Rick Riordan said it, 'if life was fair it would mean we would all get what we want'. We don’t always get what we want. Sometimes. Most times, we have to fight, to work on getting what we want. And that involves change. Choosing to let go of the old and embrace the new even with the uncertainty it brings. It gets better!

Be the change. You are whom you have been waiting for!

In losing weight, you have to do it a day at a time. Working out right, slowly at first then rising gradually. You have to make sure you eat healthy and make some hard decisions like not having candy every day or sleeping more and binge watching some show while eating lots of chips and popcorn. Change is not easy. It's hard. But you have to be willing to change for it to happen.