Change Your Normal To Change Your Life

Nothing is normal until it is. New things are uncomfortable, but everything was new once. We have to push through the discomfort in order to change.

If you want to change your life, change your normal.

For example, potty training is, at least to this point, the hardest thing I’ve done as a parent. Because we were trying to make a huge change. For literally his entire life, my son relieved himself whenever and wherever he needed to. That was his normal. And we were trying to change it. It was uncomfortable for him. There were a ton of accidents, tears (from everyone), and confusion. He felt like a failure. We felt like failures.

That’s what happens when we try to change. Normal is normal for a reason: we do it without thinking. It’s our default mode. So, when everything else is going crazy, we revert back to our normal. So, when we’re trying to change our habits, it’s natural to feel frustrated that they feel uncomfortable.

“I should just be able to do this.” But that’s wrong; it’s not normal for you to do that…yet.

The key to successfully changing is continuing to do something even when it doesn’t feel normal. Even when it’s hard and you feel like a failure, you just keep doing it.

Because, just like with potty training, at some point, it just clicks. And it becomes our new normal. The problem is that most people quit before things get locked in as habits. And, eventually, we get so fed up that we try again, feel motivated and see some progress, then life happens and we revert back to default mode, so we get frustrated and quit. Lather, rinse, repeat.

This is what I call “the fitness roller coaster.” The only way out is to just not stop. We didn’t do much right with potty training, but the thing we did right was that we never gave up. We didn’t call it quits and throw a diaper back on him because it was easier. We just kept swimming. Nothing is normal until we make it normal. But once we do, we can start to live on auto pilot with our changes.

If you want to learn how to make space for change, stack your habits and start moving the needle on your fitness and nutrition goals, check out my podcast episode with women’s weight loss coach Lauren Menton.