Are those incredible junk food commercials motivating you to get in the car and head for your nearest drive through? After a long day at work are you tempted to finish the day with a tall glass of soda, a glass of wine or maybe a good dose of “poor me” and a messy eating pattern that is keeping you fat? I have been there too. My newest way to motivate myself and others is by explaining that a full picture of health is achieved by connecting the dots.
Many times we make excuses and justify bad behavior, and one habit rolls into another habit. Before we know it, rather than having one unhealthy snack, we justify the entire day with craziness. It can be an all or nothing feeling. Today I’m going to express to you a way that small changes can snowball into crazy results!
You need to connect the dots, and make one action move to get better. For me, that means going to the grocery store. It also includes creating my meals in advance and making a promise to not get tempted into eating junk food. I was at the convenience store the other day and I had to promise to not buy chips and dip. I was like a crazy woman, walking towards it and then walking away. I decided to go out of that place with only the one thing I came in for. Needless to say I was successful, but my mind felt possessed for a moment.
I went home and started making my healthy meals for the next day. I immediately began to drink a glass of water. Then, I decided what exercise I would do the following day. Before I knew it, I had avalanched into better behavior.
There is no one perfect person in the world. We can be tempted into exercising and then tempted out of it. We can be enticed to eat bad and to drink unhealthy. Some people get distracted more than others and decidedly we all need encouragement and sometimes we need a just a good old kick in the pants! Don’t beat yourself up for bad behavior, just start asking yourself now what can you do to take better care of your body. You will be surprised what you will come up when you look into connecting the small dots towards your success.
—