What is One Step You Can Take?

To reach the other side of the field, I have to take one step at a time

We are almost at the end of January where are you with your New Year's resolutions? Have you already given up on them? Have you begun to make excuses for yourself as to why those weren't really resolutions you want or things you wanted? Did you decide it was too big of a change and you feel over whelmed, changing everything at once is not going to work?

Instead of looking at the big picture, how do you break it down into the next step or the first step? When we have a dream or a goal and all you can see is the climb of the mountain it's going to take to get up there, we become overwhelmed stressed out and don't know where to begin or how to actually make it happen and stick to it, or we just get overwhelmed and do nothing. Why not try something different this year with your goals?

What is one step you can take in meeting your goals?

Let's say your goal for this year was to become healthier or lose weight. This is a very large and lofty goal, a good one, but a large one. Instead of looking at it as having to make every change at once, instead, what is one change you could make?
Cutting down on the amount of soda that you're drinking.
Eating more healthy fats.
Get to bed earlier.
Moving more.
Beginning your day with healthy foods.

How can you actually begin to make this happen? Here are a few things you could do:
This will be multidisciplinary course of action, because losing weight, getting healthy, is not only something physical but it's also something mental and emotional.

Lets take eliminating soda as an example

Instead of just trying to cut soda completely out by sure will power, try crowding out. You do this by adding in something healthier in place of your vice. When we nourish our bodies it is easier to stop eating or drinking the garbage, dead, junk, pseudo food. When our bodies are nourished, they do not crave the garbage as much. Things you could being drinking:
water with some of your favorite fruits infused into it
flavored herbal teas and or green, black, oolong tee
full fat raw milk, if you can find it, if not, full fat milk will work
water kefir that is turned into sodas through second fermentation with fruits

The next step is to figure out why you're drinking soda?
Is it an emotional crutch?
Is it for the flavor or the fizzness factor?
When you're stressed is that what you reach for to manage your stress?
Is it an addiction?
Do you need the caffeine?
The reasons for you drinking soda could be any one of the above, combinations or anything else. Take some time to figure this out for yourself. It might seem useless, but I promise it will make a difference, identifying your struggles and reasons why, then you can begin confronting them and growing. An emotional reason for your doing something might be what you need to understand to end the cycle.

Once you understand the reasons why, you can begin taking steps to finding a new way to deal with stress, emotional struggles. Things such as:
deep breathing
taking a walk
talking to someone
working out
reading a book
taking a hot bath
laughing
getting out into nature
finding a new hobby
discovering where you are out of balance

Another step you will need to take is to begin reducing the amount of soda you are drinking. This can be done on a weekly basis, each week cut down the amount of soda you drink by a fixed amount each week you decide upon. Uphold your commitment to yourself, if you let yourself down you are your own worst enemy. Do not be afraid to reach out for help, we are not intended to be alone and do things by ourselves. Ask for help. By slowly reducing your intake, you will help to reduce the headaches from the caffeine and the sugar some of the withdrawal symptoms and you will begin nourishing the body mentally, emotionally, psychologically, physically from good food and better lifestyle habits, which as time goes on, will make it easier and easier for you to completely eliminate soda.

Remember, this is going to take time. You did not start out needing soda as a crutch or drinking 120 ounce of it a day. Be kind to yourself as you are working through this process. Learning anything new takes time. Learning how to deal with your emotions and stress in a different way is going to be difficult. It will take great courage.

What is one step you can take to reach your goals?
Saving the world one stick of butter at a time.
God bless,
Jenn