Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 533 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast! You’re awesome for being here. I know that self improvement is not for everyone, even though everyone needs it in my humble opinion. But the fact that you keep showing up every week inspires me to keep going so thank you for listening and following the show and giving me a 5 star review! I love seeing them and it helps the podcast reach more people. You can do that by clicking on the 3 little dots in the top right corner. Thank you guy, you really are the best.
Ok, I read something wild this week. Big food companies are scrambling to dodge the Ozempic wave. They’re actually tweaking their ingredients to keep us hooked, even though as a country we are trying to get healthy. Are they just cruel? Maybe. Evil even? I don’t think so, they’re just chasing their bottom line. But it hit me hard that temporary fixes, like a shot or a pill, are just that, Temporary. Discipline is the real game. And it’s on US to build it, no-one is handing it to us. But why can’t we just have it?
Well, because life’s messy. I’m heading to my parents’ this week, and I know my mom’s gonna cook amazing food, some of it will be filled with sugar. It makes her so happy to cook for us and I love seeing her happy. But the plan I have for myself right now doesn’t include sugar. I am also only eating in an 8 hour window, so Im fasting the other 16 hours in the day. It’s been going really well but one visit to my parents house could derail it. We all have these trigger points, places or habits that tempt us off track. It’s no problem when I’m home but not so easy at my mom and dad’s and I am certainly not skipping a visit home just because I don’t want to eat a certain way, so how do I enjoy them AND stay true to me?
I talked about a new meditation that I’ve been doing and it’s called the way. It’s an app but this morning during the meditation the guide had us create feelings of desire for a food that we love and to see how that feels and where you feel it in your body. You probably know the feeling, your heart races, maybe your mouth waters, you get a little giddy at the thought of it. Those are familiar feelings to people who have cravings, which is everyone. We just crave different things. Well, During that meditation, I realized when you are craving something, that’s all you can see that’s all you can feel until you have answered that craving. but what this meditation helped me to see is that there’s an awareness of the craving that is separate from the craving. that awareness is our higher self, it’s always there. That awareness is who I really am. I’m not the craving. I’m the awareness of it. During the meditation, he asked us to recognize the craving and just kind of smile at it and except that it’s there I imagined it being like a little child that wants to eat chocolate oatmeal cookies for dinner and breakfast and lunch And I’m not gonna let it happen. Our awareness is how we get around the craving. We control it as long as we’re aware of it. The crazy thing is that most of our cravings don’t just pop up they’re usually tied to habits, which make them extra tricky if you ask me.
I have a fond memory of growing up going to the movie theatre with my whole family my parents and my siblings. We always got to pick out candy and a drink. Dad would always get a popcorn big enough to share. I would get snow caps. Dark chocolate with those little white crunchy non perils. I can still taste how yummy they were especially mixed with the popcorn! Am I making you hungry?!? That’s not my goal. lol. I’m telling you this because I still love movies and when I go to the movies I still want snow caps and popcorn. It’s like I can’t go and NOT have them. I don’t want to JUST go to the movie I also want to eat like a 12 year old. So much of our life is spent falling into habit patterns. If we aren’t aware those patterns will absolutely sabotage the goals we have for our life. And they’re subtle. I shop at Whole Foods 3-4 times a week. For a while there I would get a justin’s dark chocolate cashew cup Candy to snack on in the car. Ok if you do it once in a while but I’m going to Whole Foods 3-4 times a week and I notice I think about getting a justin’s candy every time I go now. I have a different anchor at Trader Joe’s oh and then fresh market has the jars of candy, there’s 100 different ones. Once after sushi we grabbed Dutch mints from fresh market as dessert and now anytime I go to that sushi restaurant I want Dutch mints from fresh market afterward. You can ask my husband. He’s usually the one going in to grab them. Little habits here and there that on their own wouldn’t completely sabotage but all together there’s no way they will allow me to be the version of me that I want to be.
I mentioned my cravings to Kevin, my trainer and he suggested making sure that I keep a better snack option with me at all times, in the car if I’m going grocery shopping or a healthier snack for the movies. Basically giving my inner child a better option, which actually worked.
So what’s tripping you up? That extra sugar in the coffee that you’ve grown accustomed to? That drink they make just right at your favorite restaurant? The ever changing seasonal scone at your morning coffee shop? These are the little habits that sneak under the radar and we think they’re harmless until we notice our pants are a little snug and we didn’t just get them out of the dryer, if you know what I mean…. Here’s the thing, I got sloppy. I noticed it which is the first step right? It’s that awareness. You are watching you all the time. The more you’re aware of it, the more you start to listen. It’s that little voice saying “you don’t need that drink” or “I thought we said we weren’t eating dessert”. That is the awareness I’m talking about. It’s always with you. And look, I know it’s uncomfortable to say no when all your friends say yes. I know it’s uncomfortable to say no when it makes your mom so happy for you to say yes. But guess what? It’s also uncomfortable when my jeans are too tight. It’s also uncomfortable to feel bad because of that extra martini. We’ve gotten soft, we are terrified of discomfort in a world where everything is at our fingertips. But would you rather have the cookie or the discipline to say no. One prolongs the discomfort and the other is uncomfortable for the moment but feels amazing long term. Discipline begets discipline. Just the small action of planning ahead by keeping a healthy snack in my car not only solved the 3;00 pm craving; it also built momentum to do it again. So saying no to my mom’s dessert or planning ahead for the movie theatre now seems less daunting. It’s not magic, it’s actually my brain rewiring. Habits are proven to get stickier over time. So we want to make sure the habits we are building are making us better!
My challenge for you today is this. Notice one habit that’s derailing you. Don’t try to fix them all, just pick one. If it’s a craving, You aren’t alone every person has cravings, it’s just that most people don’t spot them until their elbow deep in movie popcorn and by then it’s too late. You’re not the craving, you’re the awareness of the craving. And discipline builds but you have to get that momentum started with the first win and that win starts with awareness. The moment you are aware of it, you already have power over it. Share this with 3 people who push you to be better. I love you guys! I’ll talk to you in a few days!
