Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 209 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast!
How’s it going? I hope wherever you are and whatever you’re doing you’re being the best that you can be. That’s what’s important right? Being our version of the best. Not comparing myself to anyone else, just knowing that whatever I’m doing, I’m going to be the best that I can be and if I compare myself it’s to who I was yesterday.
Sometimes my best is really really good and sometimes it’s just ok because I’m trying something new or maybe I’m not feeling well. I’ve talked about getting my life coach certification through The life Coach school and man am I loving that. Right out of the gate…..Brooke Castillo said to be willing to suck at it at first because it’s new and more than likely you aren’t gonna to be great from the get go because it’s a skill that needs to be developed to do it well. So we have class every Monday and usually people volunteer to practice coaching someone in front of the class so the coach can give you feedback and help you get better. This last week I volunteered and let me tell ya, I sucked and I’m not being humble or looking for someone to say “No you didn’t” I honestly didn’t do well and it was embarrassing and I had this urge to have a glass of wine to numb those thoughts of “Everyone had to be thinking how awful a coach I’m going to be and “they thought I didn’t prepare, I’m sure” and just going on and on. But I’ve been working on resisting urges to do things that hinders my growth. While having a glass of wine isn’t bad, for me the reason I’m having the wine is important and I was trying to numb my thoughts so I just sat with that urge for a minute and it passed and instead of feeling sorry for myself over a glass of wine, I remembered Brooke saying “be willing to suck at first” and I congratulated myself for volunteering to go first for coaching on a new topic, we hadn’t done it before so of course I’m going to suck. Resisting the urge to have the glass of wine immediately to numb my embarrassment made things so much better because I was actually able to coach myself and I felt the feelings and thought OK, what did I learn?
Honestly I don’t remember if I ended up having a glass of wine later or not, but the important thing is I resisted that initial urge. The same thing happened at a party we had at our house. We’ve almost gotten to the point where it’s just automatic that party equals drinking alcohol and eating sugary foods. So people were showing up and I thought oh I better grab a glass of wine, completely just out of habit of a party and then I thought, you know what? Let me just talk to everyone for now, I don’t NEED a glass of wine just because it’s a party. Another time I resisted that urge. And if you listened to my episode 206 you will hear me talk about some of the conversations I came upon about a difficult topic, in this case vaccines and how I handled it…Had I been drinking…it could have gone in an entirely different direction.
The more you resist an urge, the easier it gets. The urges we have are proven to have a life cycle like most things….it will peak and then drop off fairly quickly…so if you allow it for a minute or two without answering it, likelihood is it will go away. Think about it, you resist urges all the time, Marketers are brilliant at getting you to have the urge to do something. How many times have you “realized you were hungry” when you saw an advertisement for a pizza? Are you really hungry or is your brain just giving you an urge because of an ad? Why do you think they put those M&M’s at the cash register? Impulse urge to grab one….. I bet you resist that urge regularly. I know I do. Or the best one is Aunt Annie’s pretzels in the mall. They pump that smell throughout the whole place! How many times have you resisted that urge? And I’m going to give you credit even if the reason you resisted it was because the line was so long.
We aren’t going to get rid of urges, it’s not possible. You’re going to see the ad, you’re going to see the chocolate. You’re gonna smell that buttery pretzel. We have to learn to allow them. Don’t feel the need to answer every single urge you have. The more you recognize the urge and allow it without answering it the easier it gets.
My challenge to you this week is to think about some of the urges you have that you constantly answer. Can you resist one a day? The urge to grab that Reese’s peanut butter cup at the register when you’re paying for your paper towels? Resist that urge. The urge to grab a glass of wine just because it’s a habit…resist that urge. Remember what you practice.
I love you guys. I ‘ll talk to you in a few days.
