They say that change is as good as a holiday.
But who even says that? And while we’re at it, who are “they” anyway?
The saying is a switch around from the original “change is as good as rest”. Which sounds kinda stupid. And either way you look at it, they’re both on the same page in regards to implying that change is a good thing.
But I’d disagree. And I’m sure you would too.
There definitely can be good changes, but there most definitely can be bad ones too.
Perhaps you can relate, but what I always seem to find is that the bad kind of change always seems to work out for the better in the long run.
It’s almost like we’re sometimes forced into the bad changes in life to go that extra distance, to push our boundaries and really test what we’re made of.
Uncontrollable stressors like the death of someone close to us or even being fired from a position at work that we’ve been in for years, are just that, uncontrollable.
And most of the time we’re completely unaware and unready for them to occur.
Which brings about the question of what if we willingly chose to put ourselves through the hard stuff in life? How far could we go? How much could we get done? And how many of us actually need a big bad change that shocks us and puts us on the path to a better life?
The cycle of Earth.
The Earth has been through some intense changes in its 4.5 billion or so year life. There were times when the Earth was at uninhabitable super high temperatures to it literally being covered in ice, snow and slush at -50°C.
We’re only talking a mere 650 million or so years ago too, which is pretty weird to think of (for a numbers of reasons), right?
The Earth went from one extreme to another. But what if it never went through these types of changes?
Well, the type of change it endured led to the sparking of life so you probably wouldn’t be here right now reading this.
Our cycle.
Just like Earth, we’re faced with challenges on a daily basis. We may have to endure them from one extreme to another. But at the end of the day, that is when our character is built. And in tough times, when it shines.
But what is character anyway?
Our character seems to be defined and displayed by what we’re like in our most extreme sympathetic stage. Our fight or flight mode. And it’s always the time in our lives when we’re put to the test to see what we’re really like when we are faced with super stressful situations.
Situations like a guy holding a gun to your head, a car coming at you full speed, or even just the looming anxiety-feeling you get when you get closer to shooting for that ‘P’ or ‘HD’ in an exam.
Our epinephrine and norepinephrine hormones (or, adrenaline) are released to deal with threats, and how we respond to them can have a positive or negative effect on our lives in more ways than one.
Now look, I know guns being pointed at you, or cars trying to run you over are both pretty extreme examples. But what about how you respond in more common/less life-threatening situations?
Situations like challenging yourself to exit your comfort zone? To push your boundaries a little bit?
Digging up-ways.
Let’s say you’re overweight, depressed and unmotivated. And let’s say you may not know where to start to put your life back on track.
The first step is of course to work out what you want. But then, what it takes to get you there.
If you want to flip your whole life around, or even make small alterations, one of the hardest things you’ll have to do is accept that you will need to make some changes.
There’s no denying that to break out of what you’ve been doing for so long requires a step outside of your normal routine.
And it could be easy tasks like changing what time you get up in the morning so that you can fit in a training session, or simply cutting back on certain indulgent foods that put you way too far into a caloric surplus.
Or hey, it might even be the sudden increase of attention when you’re not only feeling better about yourself, but how you’re looking too.
Either way, your comfort zone will be pushed.
But, the good thing about us humans is that we’re pretty damn good at adapting to situations. So much so that most of the time, once we’re outside of our comfort zone enough, our initial thought of uncomfortable becomes our new comfortable.
Getting comfortable being uncomfortable.
Look, I get it. It’s hard to find the motivation every day to train. It’s hard to be conscious of what we’re putting into your body. And really, it is definitely hard to make that step and get outside our comfort zones.
It’s hard doing something we’re not used to doing. But how else can we achieve what we want in life?
If we’re not inching along each day and aiming for where we want to be, what we want to be doing, and how we want to look and feel, then how else are we going to get there?
It’s literally impossible if we don’t put in the effort to achieve. And when we do push the boundaries, you know what’s cool?
Our comfort zone gets pushed up a level. So now it’s easy to wake up every day with motivation to train. It becomes easy to put whole nutritional foods as number one. And it becomes more and more easy to actually step outside our comfort zone.
And when the day comes that what your initial thought of what is once a bad change or what was once an uncomfortable task becomes the opposite? Look ahead to what’s next.