Feeling Your Personal Best By Alice Greene
Taking It
One Step At A T
One of the recurring themes I noticed from the women who shared their healthy lifestyle success stories on my radio show was how many of them were taking things slowly when they started a new lifestyle change, such as a change in eating habits, exercise or making themselves a priority, by taking one baby step at a time. Progressing gently and incrementally is what helped so many of them succeed in main- taining lifestyle changes, giving themselves a chance to adjust to their changes at a pace they were comfortable with.
Going Against Convention This approach flies in the face of conventional thinking, where the objective is typically to jump into something with both feet and
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assume that all the goals need to be reached even if they are unrealistic or incredibly demand- ing. This could be a New Year’s resolution to lose 50 pounds in 3 months, adhere to a strict diet, go to the gym 4 days a week, join an extreme boot camp, participate in a kick boxing class or try to quit smoking and lose weight at the same time.
There are times when jumping in makes sense, especially for those who are physically and mentally prepared, yet for many people this is too extreme, demand- ing and draining to maintain or achieve success. For others it is also too dangerous. You have to know what your abilities and limitations are when creating new and healthier lifestyle behaviors.
Not only is change difficult, if you try to do too much too fast it could lead to a negative experi- ence or injury that keeps you from trying to improve your lifestyle habits again for months or years afterwards.
Baby Steps to Success
Very often baby steps are the way to start, but few people want to admit they need to start at this level. They perceive it as a sign of inadequacy, proof they are pathetic, and humiliating. Where does that come from? Who is judging your decisions? Who cares if you start off slow if that is best for you and allows you to quickly improve and ultimately succeed? If someone you care about gets winded going up a flight of stairs, struggles with knee pain or is quite overweight,
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