Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Consistent, small changes

It's not about instant transformation, my Weight Watchers leader tells us each week. It's about making small changes on a consistent basis—and staying with them, even when you don't see a difference immediately.

She's so right about that. Some weeks I'm disappointed in myself for food choices I've made. Other weeks I am proud of them. I am learning (slowly!) to be content either way. After all, I'm human! I know that, over all, I have drastically changed the way I eat and the type of foods I consume. Our leader encourages us to not give up those foods (or drinks) we really enjoy. If we do that, she tells us, we will soon quit the plan because we feel deprived. Our personal eating plan needs to be sustainable.

That's good advice for the rest of life, too. It's not about instant transformation. When we want to make changes in lifestyle, career, relationships or any other part of life, it's far easier to bite off manageable chunks that over time will add up to real transformation. For example, after my divorce when I wanted to build my self-esteem, I started first with stopping the negative self-talk. That took a while. Once I had managed that fairly well, I could move on to affirmations and learning how to talk kindly to myself (as I would to a friend). Then came a deeper look at my attitudes about weight, worth, and, in my case, perfectionism. I didn't climb that mountain in one step. I took several small steps—and am still taking steps, in fact. I consider myself a work-in-progress!

Small changes on a consistent basis: Where do you want to start today?

No comments:

Post a Comment