Allison Gingras discovered the best motivation for a healthy lifestyle — past successes, setting reasonable goals, and managing expectations.
In most areas of my life, I tend to gravitate toward the path of least resistance. After years of participating in women’s Bible studies, I’ve happily discovered I am not alone in my tendency toward the easy. However, there comes the point in every person’s life when they need to fight that urge to coast and persevere in their pursuits. I’ve also learned, it takes much longer than 21 days to change or build a habit, especially ones you’ve spent 52 years perfecting! To recharge my stick-to-it-iveness, I decided to look back at some of my small successes. Hint: this technique makes it easier to proceed remembering your proven track record and, therefore, a real chance at accomplishing whatever you are setting out to achieve.
I have managed to kick smoking, overcome a fear of flying (even traveling alone), pushed through procrastination to write a book (or two), and stopped biting my nails (ok, developing germophobia aided this last one). The point is, if I put my mind to it, even habits and mindsets held for a very long time can be conquered.
My most prolonged and difficult battle, like so many women, is my weight. One of the apparent difficulties comes from not being able to go cold turkey with this one! Doctors frown on that — a lot — trust me on that. As I navigate this whole midlife thing, I decided it was time to take a fresh approach. I asked myself a crucial question: why do you want to lose weight? My answer was simple. I want to be healthier, giving myself the best chance at a long life, especially since God blessed me with a 3-year-old the year I turned 40! With this honed and attainable goal, I signed up for a weight management app and dove into 2020, eager to see what I could accomplish.
