Are you ignoring your rumble strips?
Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 222 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast!
During one of my toastmasters meetings one of the other members gave a speech on self care 101 which you know I loved but during this speech she reminded us that they put those rumble strips on the sides of the roads not for annoyance or for decoration. They are there to wake you up. If you happen to doze off, maybe you’re a trucker and you’ve been driving a long time without sleep and you doze off…those rumble strips wake you up. This episode is dedicated to Andrea from my Toastmasters club. You inspired me last week!
Because It got me thinking about how we all have rumble strips for our life. But are we listening? Are we paying attention? Are they waking us up? Maybe your relationship is strained but it’s easier to ignore it, maybe you’re becoming more and more addicted to your phone, and it’s affecting your life but it’s harmless right? Maybe your pants keep getting a little tighter or there’s a warning light on in your car…these are rumble strips but are they waking you up?
So for me my nutrition journey started because I was having real problems with my joints and my hands would itch like crazy and swell. This was my body giving me a wake up call, a rumble strip for my health. This is not a normal thing and if I keep down this path, will it just keep getting worse? So I listened and that led me to Dr Osborne who is a functional medicine nutritionist that I interviewed on Episode 122 and my path to eating healthy for my body and my hands don’t itch or swell anymore. My joints are 90% better all because the rumble strips woke me up. I didn’t have to live with the pain and watch it get worse as long as I did something about it.
I also was on a path where I got a little too focused on myself and part of that was my hormones but I wasn’t happy and I knew something was wrong so I went and had my hormones tested by Dr Pearson at Exceed clinic, he is a hormone expert, I also interviewed Dr Pearson on Episode 63 because of that gut feeling that something wasn’t right, I listened to it and found answers. Now I have to admit I let it go a little longer than I should have and things were starting to go south in a few areas of my life. had I started looking for help as soon as I knew there was a problem I wouldn’t have had to suffer some of the things I did. Fortunately it wasn’t too late.
We all have an inner guidance system that’s looking out for us and always knows what the best path is for you to take and it’s constantly giving you hints like “Hey, maybe don’t eat that, it makes us feel like crap” or maybe “it’s time to get our drinking under control” or that book keeps showing up in my awareness maybe I should read it, or listen to that podcast that my friend sent me, or even as simple as don’t take the interstate today, or call your mom”. These all may seem like inconsequential things but that book may have the answer, that podcast may inspire you to change that thing that catapults your business, that club you joined might have someone in it that is the answer to your prayers for whatever reason.
Where life gets hard and no fun is when we ignore the signs that something needs to change. The reason we feel bad is because we aren’t progressing or aren’t answering the call for that dream we have. We feel bad because we know something is off and we keep ignoring the signs. The signs might be subtle at the beginning, like driving in the car and you’re tired, maybe you swerve a little bit and that gets your attention, but if it doesn’t wake you up and you let it go too far, you’re gonna hit that row of rumble strips on the side of the interstate and that’s gonna wake you up and hopefully it isn’t too late.
My point is. Those little hints that something needs to change, start listening to them. If you listen to them when they are little hints then maybe they won’t turn into big problems where you really need a wake up call. Subscribe to that podcast, join that gym, go to AA, hire that life coach. Start taking action on the subtle hints. You don’t have to hit rock bottom to make a change. And therapy is a really good option if you have some undealt with trauma but if you’ve dealt with it…Often there’s no need to go back and figure out where things went wrong, you just start today figuring out what’s good and right today and how to move forward from right where you are TODAY.
Abraham Hicks gave the example that There was a couple driving using their new GPS system and the husband says I don’t care what the GPS says, I know we are going in the complete wrong direction of where we are supposed to go. The wife who was driving, wanted to figure it all out said ok well…“let’s turn around and go back and start all over and we will see if I took a wrong turn or if the gps put us on the wrong path that way we’ll know where we went wrong and the husband says “OR” we could restart the gps from right where we are right now and get a fresh start, headed in the right direction from this location. Sometimes we want to make things harder on ourselves by rehashing our past and thinking we need to go back and fix it all when sometimes it’s ok to just start fresh right where you are and move forward from there.
When your gut tells you something’s wrong…listen. It makes life more stressful and harder when you’re constantly hitting those rumble strips to wake you up.
And look, nothing’s gone wrong. You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be and today can be the first day of the rest of your life. Decide right now to live intentionally. When you notice you’re picking up a bad habit, nip it before it gets too bad. If you feel like you’re becoming too addicted to social media and your phone, you probably are, be intentional about when you look at it, If your clothes are fitting tighter and tighter it’s probably time to look at your diet, it’s way easier to lose 10 lbs then letting it get to 50, it’s easier to lose 50 than it is before you need to lose 100. It’s way easier to cut back on alcohol now while you’re still able to, rather than waiting until it causes real problems for you. It’s much easier to address a growing disconnect with your partner than it is to deal with a divorce.
If you’re hearing this, let this be your rumble strip. And remember, you don’t have to keep dragging the past up, you can start fresh from where you are right now. Just like the couple with the GPS. You are where you are, move forward from there…no need to go back and figure out what went wrong 20 years ago. It’s time to wake up and get things back under control where you’re thriving instead of simply surviving.
Share this episode with 3 people and hop over to Apple podcasts and give me a 5 star rating if you loved it…
I love you guys and I’ll talk to you in a few days.
