Happy New Year!
It’s a brand new year and we are back with new and exciting content in HELP For Mums – A platform for us to share our struggles and successes on this journey to achieving a Healthy Lifestyle Balance. Whether you’re a stay at home mum, a working mum, a mum to be, or a mum at heart this platform is for you!
As every New Year starts there is always an increase in the number of people at the gym, the number of fitness plans being sold and the number of people starting a new diet. But then 2, 3, 4 weeks into the year, about 80% of people have completely abandoned the resolution that they started off so enthusiastic about. If health and wellness is such an important aspect of our lives (we all want to look and feel good after all) then why is it that so many of us find it hard to stay committed to our fitness goals? Is it that we do not value our health enough? Or is it that we are not motivated enough? This was a perplexing question that I asked myself for many years as I struggled with keeping up with my fitness resolutions/goals. It wasn’t until 2 years ago that I realized what the problem was…my MINDSET!
I entered many years unhappy with how I looked. Every year I “resolved” to do something about it but I was not successful because my mindset was flawed. I was taking MY HEALTH to be something that needed a “New Year” to start, something that needed to yield certain results within a certain timeframe, something that needed to be done in a certain way that had worked for this person, or that person– and once I wasn’t able to keep up, I gave up.
It wasn’t until I made a decision to change my mindset that I started to see results. It was a transformation that I had to make, that we all have to make, from the inside-out. It did not happen at the beginning of a year, it happened in a moment. And once that mindset change took place I started to achieve results.
If like me you are tired of not seeing results, if you are ready to become the women, wife, the mother, the sister that God created you to be – you need to TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR MINDSET. The right mindset empowers you, energizes you, and inspires you.
- The first thing you have to do is ACCEPT WHO YOU ARE. Your true identity as a person – because that person won’t change no matter what she looks like. That takes strength. You have to see yourself as beautiful and embrace who you are. Don’t see your stretch marks are not defects; see them as beautiful markings that tell a story. Don’t see your natural beauty as something unattractive that needs to be covered up, see yourself the way God see’s you “a beautiful masterpiece” created in His image.
- The next thing you need to do is VISUALIZE YOUR JOURNEY – not your destination – because we all know that life is a never ending journey. Visualize – see it as you want it in your mind. Where do you want to be 1 month from now, 6 months from now, a year from now? That takes focus. It takes focus not to get sidetracked and start looking at what other people are doing. Celebrate your own victories no matter how small. Visualize what YOU want, for yourself and proceed with that picture engraved vividly in your mind.
- The third and most important step – PERSEVERE. You have to psych yourself up each day to keep working towards your goal. Say to yourself “I can” not “I can’t”. Push through the pain and discomfort like an athlete running a race – keeping your eyes on the prize. That takes discipline. It takes discipline to keep going even when you can’t see results, – yet. It take’s discipline to give up that last 30 minutes of sleep every morning to make it to the gym before work. It takes discipline not to abandon the lifestyle changes that you know are necessary to achieve your goals.
These are the 3 steps that I took in order to change my mindset- and I believe that they will work for you too! I have been able to take control of and stay on track in my wellness and fitness journey and I no longer have to make a yearly resolution because it has become a part of me.
It’s not just another New Year’s Resolution; it is a Lifetime Resolution, a Transformation Resolution.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2
Blessings
BFM