One Giant Leap or Just a Step towards healthy changes

Is it something in the way we are conditioned that makes us think that when we decide to change, we need to make it a grand gesture. Do we feel the need to make drastic mistakes, to make life changing decisions or to take on the world when we decide to move? Or are making changes in health about taking the right step at the right time, irrespective of perceived effect?

I notice, with the work I do, that I find myself with people who are at every stage of making 'healthy changes'. As a result, I often have to make sure that I am as open as I can be about what change means for that person at that time.

For some, they are nervously at the start of trying something new, unsure as to whether it will work or not. Others are working their way through the process, trialling, playing, falling over and getting back up. And others, are at the end stages, where they have worked through the process, and are now reaping the benefits of a new way of eating that suits them much better or lifestyle changes that makes them feel good.

I recently had a conversation with a client who was nearing the end of our programme together, who was feeling the benefits of the range of changes she has made and had started connecting the dots of her own health.

What surprised me about the conversation was that she had decided to shift her attention towards a long standing chronic mental illness. Having felt the growing confidence of making some positive changes, she decided to work alongside her GP to gradually reduce and cease her long term medication.

I was blown away. Firstly, by her courage at facing a long term illness that had managed her life for over 30 years. And secondly, by the fact that, by making a few changes in her eating and lifestyle habits, she gained the confidence to tackle a bigger health concern.

It reminded me of some of the most basic principles around making changes in health. Sometimes its not about making massive changes, huge targets or grand schemes.

Often, its about taking one step at a time. It is about making enough of a change to help yourself feel good, to realise that change is possible and from there.... well, who knows.