A Pearl for Andrew
The amazing Andrew asked: "What is the one pearl of wisdom you would share?"
One? Okay, I can do one. :)
I don't profess to have all the answers, or even to have any of the answers for some folks. But the one thing I've learned after, lo, these many years, is that you can't overhaul your life overnight. Successfully changing a lifetime of bad habits takes practice and time to execute, both physically and emotionally, along with the banishment of expectations of perfection.
I look at it this way: If someone gave me a list of home improvement projects that instructed me to clean all the windows (inside and out), sweep all the floors, remove all my switchplates and doorknobs, clean the patio and garage, catch up the laundry, repave the driveway, mow the lawn, and paint the mailbox, and then told me to start all of them on the following Monday morning and do them all perfectly, I'd run for the hills. Once I'd been revived and could pick myself up off the floor, that is.
But what I might do is choose to clean the patio and garage this weekend, tackle the switchplates and doorknobs next weekend, the windows the week after that (and maybe I'd call on a friend to be my window-washing buddy), and perhaps I'd paint the mailbox--the first coat, anyway--while I waited for the rinse cycle on the washing machine, and so on and so on.
It actually sounds possible that way, doesn't it? I might get it all done, and done well, if I break it up into manageable pieces.
Why in the hell, then, would I ever expect myself to begin a rigorous exercise program six days a week, eat only healthy foods in daily allotments that are a fraction of what I sometimes ate by noon before, drop all caffeine from my diet and replace it with water, give up chocolate and all other snack foods forever, learn everything there is to know about nutrition and how it affects my body, and deal with the emotional issues of all of the above? And do it all perfectly, with nary a tear or complaint.
Starting next Monday.
You can't overhaul your life overnight. Steady, consistent, positive changes, time to execute them, and room to screw up. It will work.
It only took me 30 years to figure all this out.
So enough of my rambling. Let's make a necklace of these pearls!
If you could share one pearl of wisdom with folks, what would it be?
Thanks to Andrew for the question!
Labels: lifestyle steps, misc., quotes
9 Comments:
I love that pearl!
Mine would be, even if you feel you have blown it, it's only blown if you quit right them. Every journey begins with a lot of steps and when you're making steps, you're not quitting.
Hey Cammy - thanks for helping to keep my forums going while I was gone. I'm back and hoping to get more activity now.
Thanks!
Ohhh, Cammie and jan, both good ones.
Mine is you CAN do it. You can you can YOU CAN.
Send yourself that message, shout it from the rooftop, believe it in your heart.
Have faith in yourself. You can do it.
I totally agree. We just need to do the best that we can every day, and not stress out too much if we fall short.
Hi Cammy,
What a great answer! I think you've hit the nail on the head - incremental change is much more likely to work rather than revolutionary change.
If someone had asked me for a pearl I would probably have said something similar. However, seeing as you have said it so much better than I can I would say we need to put the negative little voice inside ourselves on mute and turn up the volume on the positive voice inside ourselves.
Thanks Cammy.
Great post! And it reflects how I feel exactly. My success this time is based on the fact that I just keep trying every day no matter what happened the day before. Previously, I would have quit after a single episode of not being perfect.
I don't have any pearls about lifestyle changes yet, but I do have this one.
You may not be able to choose how you feel, but you *can* choose what to *do* about how you feel.
I am sooooo sick of people I know saying "But I LOVE him..." regardless of how they're being treated, or that the other person is married, etc etc. You love him. SO WHAT? That doesn't give him the right to abuse you, and it doesn't give you the right to hop into the sack with a married man.
Your feelings might be beyond your control, but your actions aren't.
Altho, thinking about it, I suspect you can apply that to lifestyle changes, too. You love that piece of chocolate. But you can choose not to have it. ;-)
that is so very true..nothing changes overnight. oh how we want it to, but it just cant. thats why we just have to make simple small changes every day and overtime we will wake up and realized we have changed.
I'm a bit late, but I would say that... you can't overhaul your life when you're exhausted. Successfully changing a lifetime of bad habits takes strength, determination and focus... all of which require sleep. Getting my 8 hours in is crucial. When I'm tired, I goof. Plain and simple. I realize that not everyone *needs* 8 hours of sleep each night, but whatever amount you need, I strongly suggest that you get it. :)
This was a great idea. Sorry, I'm a bit late getting to it.
j
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