Good luck with those good intentions
It’s nearly the end of January, so how are the New Year’s resolutions going? Did you make any? And if so, were they small resolutions? Not to waste as much time on Facebook, to take part in ‘Dry January’? Or were they bigger? To change career perhaps or give up smoking? Whatever they were, I hope they’re going well. But if they’re not and you’ve had that cigarette or are still as attached to your phone, don’t worry … there’s hope!
There are lots of reasons why New Year’s resolutions don’t work. Wrong time of year, focusing on the wrong thing, focusing on too many things. The list goes on. So, if you’ve fallen by the wayside already, don’t worry. Pick yourself up and dust yourself down and let’s go again. But this time it’s going to be different.
Let’s try a different approach
How? You already know there’s no magic answer here, no one right way. We’re all different… What works for one person, won’t work for another. If you know yourself, then you’ll know what could work for you and what won’t. As human beings, we don’t like change. We like what we know. So, it’s important to take time identifying what will work for you. And don’t try to get out of your comfort zone too quickly here!
Not being negative but…
Just focus for a minute on the negative. What habit do you really want to change this year? What don’t you like yourself doing (but can’t help yourself!) Write it down. And keep in mind that you can change, but it takes 21 days to break a habit, so that’s your timeline.
Fancy a glass of wine?
Choose the most annoying habit or choose the easiest one. Let’s sort out just one at a time. Ask yourself why this habit is so easy to do? Write that reason down. What do you need to change to make it hard to do? Write that down. So, for example, if you need or want to stop that glass of wine every night, maybe it’s easy because there’s always wine in the house. So, make it harder for yourself. Don’t have wine within easy reach – put it in the loft or in the garage. It may sound ridiculous but if you make the habit hard, you won’t do it.
And don’t forget to reward yourself. Write down what your reward will be. Put it where you can see it. Make yourself accountable to yourself. Better still, tell others!
What has an osteopath got to do with change?
In case you’re wondering why an osteopath’s writing about this kind of stuff, well, change is a big thing for people who come to see us at Mid Sussex Osteopaths. They’ve had enough of the constant aches and pains or the flare ups of pain that takes them out of action. They want to feel like themselves again, they want to be healthy and have some energy back and be able to do the things that they did before.
When they’re pain free they often want to go on to make other changes in their lives. To get back to badminton or back on the road bike. Or to change their job or to learn a new skill. And a lot of what we do is about first helping people to identify, then change those bad habits – not drinking enough water, sitting for too long at work for example. Then we talk about making some positive changes – rediscovering those sports they used to enjoy, finding a bit of time for themselves.
Do you fancy a change?
Which got me thinking about change and how it can be one of the hardest things to do but one of the most rewarding. So, keep an eye on the blog because over the next 12 months, the team and I are going to be bringing you lots of advice about changes you can make to help you spring through 2017. Whether you’ve had enough of upper back pain from sitting at work, whether lifting and carrying your baby has left you with aches and pains that won’t shift or whether you’ve just had enough of the pain that you’ve had for years and think that it’s with you forever, there’ll be something there for you that’ll help!
