CHANGE: It's Gonna suck...at First

Oh lawd...! Photo by Zachary Kadolph on Unsplash

There’s something you have to know about implementing any sort of change in your life.

It’s gonna suck. 

At first.

Doing something new is ALWAYS going to be uncomfortable because it’s unfamiliar.

Think of change like walking in nature; there are paths which are nothing but beaten-down dirt because they've been gone over so often. The way is clear, and nothing is holding you back.

But there are other paths that aren't even paths yet. They're full of tall grass and are surrounded by trees with branches that reach out to claw at you, preventing you from moving forward easily.

Photo by Ladyfern Photos on Unsplash

That's what change is.

But that's all that change is.

Change is not this super-complicated nebulous thing; it's just a thing which is unfamiliar to you.

It's just a new path.

The old path is easier because there's no tall grass. But the new path - if you walk down it enough times - will also eventually become nothing but beaten-down dirt.

And the old path, which once was so familiar to you, will become overgrown from lack of use.

EXAMPLE: If you’re not in the habit of moving your body on a somewhat regular basis, there will be growing pains.

When I was learning to run (because yes, when you don't run regularly, you have to actually teach the muscles in your body how to do so for extended periods of time), there were weeks when I was so sore that I’m certain I looked like a limp strand of spaghetti haphazardly propelling itself down the sidewalk.

Feeling winded. Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

It sucked. Those runs sucked.

But I did enough of them that over time, it became a little less sucky.

Not good mind you, just less sucky.

And then somewhere, somehow, the scales tipped - I reached a critical mass - and it went from:

"This really blows - Will it be over soon? - Why am I here?"

To:

"This is awesome! - I’m flying like the wind! - I love this!"

(For realz yo.)

FUN FACT: Humans are unbelievably adaptable creatures. 

This is both good and bad; it's bad because you can get used to things you shouldn't (i.e. being treated badly if you grew up in an abusive household) but it's good because any new thing in your life is something you'll get used to relatively quickly.

What I'm saying is: it's ok that you're not an expert at the new thing you're trying to do – yet – because you can be with time.

You'll eventually reach a tipping point; the point of no return when the new thing isn’t new anymore and you can’t imagine going back to your old ways because these new ways are now so familiar to you.

So, to recap:

Change is gonna suck.

But it's gonna suck less each time.

And eventually...you're gonna like it.

Image Credit: Unknown

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You might be asking yourself "How does this topic relate to recovery from binge-eating?" What I found is that - for me - finding new ways of thinking about life and its challenges helped me to stop stress-eating, and has been a very big part of my ability to stop binge-eating.

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