Since the dawn of human time, we are programmed to resist change. Change is uncertain. Change can be dangerous. It can be a source of ambiguity, or worse yet, a source of failure. It makes perfect sense that we favor familiar environments, routines, and perceived comfort. There is nothing ambiguous about it. Nothing to fear. Only comfort to be had.
For the majority of human development, the drive to ‘resist’ change has served us well. After all, stepping outside, into the darkness, may have gotten us in direct contact with animals or tribes that had a lot on their minds – our well-being was not among those things.
To this day, it’s that very ‘resistance’ that leads us to hesitancy. The hesitancy, in turn, manifests through complacency. And complacency can not only stifle your ambitions, it can do far worse than that; it can wreck any form of progress, driving us further into regress.
Especially in recent decades, with medical advances, immersive TV, and gaming experiences, our complacency has found a new fuel source. We stay at home, glued to the TV, discussing the events of prominent shows. Alternatively, we meet at our local bars, throw back some cold ones and enjoy bar food. If the thought of this makes you feel all ‘warm and cozy’, then your own ‘resistance’ is victimizing you.
The biggest battle of them all is to overcome your own shadow. Your personal limitations and the internal voice that tells you to avoid temporary pain, regardless of the long-term improvements.
To overcome your limitations, you will have to fight against them.
By nature, we fight best, when we’re with our backs against the wall. When we’re threatened with an outcome that is stronger than the resistance.
Everyone’s personal limitations to when you say “enough” and you start doing something “about it”, are different.
For some, the moment arrives when tying your shoes leaves you breathless. When carrying grocery bags becomes a herculean effort, let alone carrying your child. For others, it’s preventable disease such as Type-2 diabetes. For the next person, it’s having to buy yet another pair of jeans, because you outgrew the old ones. Perhaps its when you reconsider whether you should go on that beach vacation because you don’t want to be seen in a bathing suit. Or, your self-discomfort makes you turn off the lights and pull the shades, just before…
In those moments of clarity, the epiphany comes in many shades of consideration. Though, they share a common denominator: You’re with your back against the wall and you have two options.
- Come out swinging, reclaiming your territory, and forging a path to making your better future a reality. Starting today.
- You surrender.
It’s binary. Always.
It’s decision of 1 vs 0.
Commitment vs non-committal
There is no room for misinterpretation, just room to evaluate your position and decide whether you’ll go with option 1 or 2. Either way you decide is inconsequential. What is of consequence, though, is that you commit.
If your time to make changes hasn’t come yet, and you’re comfortable in the spot in which you presently are, not feeling the need to decide, then commit to doing what you’re doing. Even if you’re a processed carb addict (we advise against it), and you’re not ready to give up on it – commit to admitting to your addiction. Name it. Stand by it. It’s your choice and whichever way you decide is the right decision for you, in that moment in time, and no one has the right to criticize you for your choices, as long as your addiction doesn’t impact them directly.
However, as soon as your despair has taken over, and you’re coming out of your corner swinging, wanting to make changes, wanting to set yourself up for your new future.
Commit.
Passionately.
Commit to passionately being you.
Do whatever it takes to realize your future. Seek assistance. Join a tribe. Become a leader in your own movement. Commitment is contagious. You’ll notice your sphere of influence making their own changes, empowered by you.
The key ingredient to everything that’s written above, is to read beyond the hyperbole. To discern between motivational language and what is actionable, true and relevant.
None of the above is important, but one ingredient:
Your state of readiness, in a binary sense of evaluation.
As Yoda said “You do, or do not. There is no try”.
Leave yourself no option for maybe. If your actions are not predicated by a “HELL YES”, then your commitment is impacted, flawed and closer to a maybe. Whereas, the human condition will almost always turn a ‘maybe’ into a ‘no’. It’s only a question of time.
Do you feel as if you’re with your back against the wall? In what area of life? What do you need to come swinging at, or is it not the right time for you yet?
Commit.