Let’s face it. The word “change” generally brings about equal measures of excitement and dread. “I’m going to lose weight” is an exciting proposition. Looking better. Feeling better. Buying new clothes. Hey! What’s not to like?
Oh yeah. The “losing weight” part.
We often articulate change as these large monolithic endeavors. We state change as the end result or intended outcome. But that’s not really true. Change is the sum of lots of crappy stuff we don’t want to do. That’s the real heart of the matter.
Think about it. “Losing weight” means a collection of the following types of items:
-eating less yummy, buttery food
-getting up early to exercise before work
-drinking less beer
-sweating
-eating more “steamed vegetables”
The list goes on. And while the end result is still attractive, the sheer amount of micro-changes involved is pretty staggering.
And that, my friends, is why most people don’t really like change. It’s simply a collection of all the things we don’t really want to do. Intellectually, change almost always makes sense. Emotionally, change is usually liberating. But in action, the conglomeration of small tasks, sacrifices, and discomfort that lead to change are simply not all that attractive.
So at this point, I’d love to pull some kind of Tony Robbins moment on you and give the secrets to making change not be so uncomfortable. That would be great. But I’m not going to.
There’s no easy way to go around change. There’s no way to actually pull of change without having to grapple with a whole host of things with which you’d probably rather not deal. There. I said it. Deal with it.
At the least, vocalizing the granular level of change liberates us from guilt or shame from the struggle we might be having with change. No worries. It’s natural. It’s just not excusable. The more uncomfortable the change, the more necessary that change probably is. Be okay with that. This might not be the most uplifting thing you read all week. But it’s certainly freeing when we can recognize that change is indeed difficult and that no one else really likes it either. That’s kind of liberating, isn’t it? Right?
