Overcoming Oneself
We all ‘stall' out. It may be the dreaded diet, it may be exercise, or it may be putting off work around the house that needs to be done, but you just can't get the ‘motivation' to do it.
When we lack this ‘motivation' usually our thoughts are something like this; "It's just too much work, I can't cope with it. It's getting me down.” So, what has happened?
There are situations that most of us can cope with quite well and others not so well. If we would only apply the same thought processes we used for coping successfully to those situations with which we feel we cannot cope, we would be able to convert our failures to successes.
We cannot allow our thoughts to look at something as ‘overwhelming' or ‘hard' or ‘impossible.' We must occupy our time by contemplating only success. Using thoughts such as, "I can cope with anything” will more likely empower you to find a solution to the barrier impeding your progress. Whatever situation has you stalled, you must grab hold of it and start to deal with it. Don't indecisively and vaguely fool around with it, but deal with it forthrightly and at once. If night snacks are your difficulty, write down exactly how much and what you might eat (within reason) and stick to your plan. If you "hope” you will go for a walk, write down in your journal that you will go for a 20 minute walk right after work no matter how tired you feel.
lways ask yourself "how am I going to overcome this problem?” Take it apart into its component sections and plan how you are going to deal with each of them ("one day at a time”). Smaller segments are much easier to handle than one big problem.
Use the power of words: terrific, great challenge, fantastic problem, exciting experience, etc. Also, keep hammering away at it. Become a ‘marathoner' not a ‘sprinter' with your situation. You will win simply with endurance. As you make small strides into your situation, your confidence will increase. You will realize you can work through the barrier, and you will be on track and the negative thoughts will settle for awhile.
Our own thoughts are the barrier to success, so work on changing them. Don't catastrophize any situation, it is never as big or as hard as our mind thinks it is.
Most of the time when I watch people off track after a holiday, or after a major life crisis, get back on track it is inspiring. But what I notice is that they don't dwell on any aspect of ‘personal failure', they simply get back to concentrating on what they have to do to reverse their issue of snacking or lack of exercise. Meditate on this; go for a walk, relax with some music and truly think about the barrier you face and how you might conquer it. The solution is there, and the solution is you.
Never give up. Lifestyle change is a lifelong challenge. Be an endurance athlete. Never give up. You can do it.
Dr. Doug