The biography of Christopher McCandless, Into the Wild
How often do we see kids completely change the direction of their lives, seemingly on a whim, while as adults, we struggle with even changing our eating habits enough to lose a mere 5 pounds? Why is it so hard to give up donuts?
Changing Yourself
According to this story about effecting change in yourself, the openness to change and new experiences is considered one of the “Big Five” personality traits. Most research indicates that openness to change declines with age. A study published in 2003 concluded that “openness” increases with age, up until about 30 years old, at which point that begins to decline. Studies indicate that these are not concrete rules, but generally speaking, our ability to embrace change and new experiences begins to decline.
Study has shown that once we get into a pattern of behavior, it becomes increasingly difficult to alter that behavior. The longer we stay in that mode, the more difficult it becomes to completely reframe our lives. This creates false hope. It is unrealistic for us to believe that we can totally reshape our lives in one fell swoop. What is more realistic, is for us to expect that we tackle smaller, more reasonable goals, and knock them out one at a time.
Looking at this from the health and fitness perspective, I believe in this idea. If you come to the realization that you need to get fit, or lose weight, the first step is to look at your behavior honestly. Let’s say you decide to weight loss is your goal. When you look at what you eat, you’ll likely find that there are a number of “sin foods” you consume on a regular basis. You may think that if you quit eating all of those things, you’ll lose weight — and you would be right. In the short term. The problem is that, over the long term, you will eventually fail. Sound pessimistic? Stay with me.
If we accept the fact that we humans are not good at re-shaping ourselves, then we have to accept that making drastic changes to our lives is difficult. We can increase our odds of success by making small changes. If you find that you drink too many sodas, try cutting out one each day from your diet, to start. Perhaps you love to eat candy bars. Don’t quit cold turkey. Limit yourself to half of what you would normally eat. The best way to lose weight is to make little changes to your life that will gradually add up.
Consider this as you approach your New Year’s Resolutions. The concepts apply to more than just weight loss. Make the resolutions, but make them modestly. You can always revisit them later, when you’re successful…
