Today I shared on Facebook that “some of the best things in life come from the effort to get past some of the worst things in life”. Lately I’ve noticed in my daily interactions that some people are becoming accustomed to getting things instantly with no wait and no effort on their part. And unfortunately, when things don’t immediately go their way, they become unnecessarily rude and discouraged about what could be done to fix their concern. I feel at times like we are becoming too much of an instant gratification society.
Part of being able to live a balanced, organized, simplified and happy life is to learn the proper mindset and learn the right skills to help you achieve that way of living. Instant fixes might leave us satisfied right away, but generally don’t help us learn the changes we need to make in order to keep that level of happiness for the long run. In order to become the person we want to be, and to live the life we want to live, we have to make deep changes on the inside.
I’m learning this all too well as I continue with my post-pregnancy weight loss journey. Right now, I’m down quite a bit from Part 2 in the series which I released a few weeks ago (more updates are coming!). Almost everyone who has seen me in person recently has commented on my weight loss and how great I look, but when they ask me what I’ve been doing in order to achieve that, I get the sense that they are looking for a magic bullet. I’ve tried to explain my process to about 5 or 6 of these people, but after a few sentences, they seem to lose interest since my answer isn’t just “drink this shake” or “take this pill” or “do this one exercise”. So I’ve stopped trying to explain my process in these casual conversations.
Weight loss can be easy – in the beginning – when you throw yourself into it. But sustainable weight loss, done slowly and correctly, requires a whole lifestyle change. And it’s not just your habits that have to change. It’s your mindset as well. You have to do some deep introspection about what the extra weight is affording you and why you may be unintentionally sabotaging your own results. If you don’t take responsibility about why you are overweight and really figure out what’s holding you back, you’ll just yo-yo up and down like I did for most of my life prior to now. Yes, it requires effort, diligence, and work. But it is beyond worth it for the results you get and the sense of accomplishment you earn knowing that you can indeed do it!
Decluttering, simplifying, and organizing your home and your life is the very same thing. I know there are professional organizers out there and they can be great in getting you motivated and helping you to understand ways to begin getting organized. However, if you hire someone to do it all for you because it seems like too much work on the front end, your house and your life will simply fall back into disarray unless you have developed a solid plan and your own inner motivation to maintain the organized home they left you with. You yourself need to learn to let go of things. You need to be able to recognize when something no longer serves a purpose in your life. You need to be able to put forth the effort required to make a change. That’s the only way that these changes will become permanent and the only way that you can gather the full sense of satisfaction and accomplishment from your efforts.
So allow yourself to recognize when you are dealing with one of the worst areas of your life. Whether that be your messy home, the late payments on your bills, the extra weight you are carrying around on your belly, or the twenty activities you committed to that you really didn’t want to do. Allow yourself to feel the discomfort and other negative feelings that go along with this part of your life. Acknowledge to yourself that those feeling exist, and that it’s a part of you – for the time being. Then remind yourself that change is possible, and put together a plan and put forth the effort to take yourself through that difficult scenario towards some of the best things in your life to come.
There is no magic bullet for anything worth achieving in life.
You can succeed in all these goals yourself, as long as you understand that you are responsible for the outcome. You need to put forth consistent effort to get there. Nothing happens until you take action and get started.
All the best,
Lesley
P.S. I’m considering putting together a course to help people with home/life organization or with weight loss – two areas that I’ve been able to make massive and lasting improvements on in my own life. I’d love to hear from you on which topic would be most helpful, and if you’d like to be a beta tester for the course once it’s ready. Send me a private message and I’ll get back to you with more details!
P.P.S. You can check out my health disclaimer if you have questions.
Oh boy Lesley you hit it on the head!! Being a generation (at least) ahead of you I see these changes very clearly. We’ve become a microwave society and expect things in the snap of a finger and life just doesn’t work that way! As for the weight loss thing, as a health coach who works with women I agree with what you are saying. My plan is structured to change lifestyle habits, thinking and beliefs – not a magic pill or bullet to cause immediate weight loss when it has taken YEARS to get where they are now. Keep doing what you are doing. I find when I speak to someone about my plan and they lose interest immediately, they are not ready to really make a change. Keep sharing your experience and those who are ready will hear!!
Ann, just out of curiosity, when you are doing weight loss coaching, what’s the average amount of time it takes for your clients to lose the weight and achieve an end result they are happy with? Since you have so much experience with various people, it’d be great to know what you see as a realistic expectation for a time frame!