My thoughts on change... A few things that are helpful for me to remember...

I have been using G@G for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve noticed there are a lot of questions and takes about weight loss and other changes people make in their life. I personally am making some significant lifestyle changes, and here are a few things that I find are helpful to keep in mind while making through a change.

If you want things to change, start making changes

This may seem like an obvious one, but I think a lot of the time it is overcomplicated. Throughout my day I may notice “hey, my nails are too long.” I grab a pair of nail clippers, and I cut them. That’s change. It’s small. It’s simple. It is also a good example, in my mind, of how simple change really is. I’ll make excuses, I’ll overcomplicate things, but in reality change is as simple as cutting my nails.

Failure is part of the process

I realized recently after reading an article online that as a society we look at failure negatively, as a part of the problem. I came to realize that failure is as much a part of change as success is. Failure is inevitable. Failure is part of the very fabric of change. So why do I kick myself when I “fail.” There’s no reason to. When I am trying to change something I am going to fail, but that’s okay. When I fail, if I pick myself up, dust myself off, and learn from it, then failure is just another form of success.

Progress is not linear

I really despise the whole “one step forward, two steps back” mentality we have in American culture. As if to say failures are worth twice a success. This is, in my opinion, bull shit. Success and failure are equal parts of the same process. I think somehow as a society we got it in our heads that progress looks like a graph. That progress goes from point A to point B on a 2-D graph. I don’t think this is true at all. I think change is 3-D, perhaps even reaches into dimensions we can’t perceive. Progress is not a roller coaster. Do you remember those old Windows screensavers? The ones with the colored dots that would move in 3-D fashion across your screen with a trail of color behind them? Progress is like that. It doesn’t go from point A to point B. Progress bobs, weaves, travels uninhibited and illogically through the space it is given. Give progress a lot of space. A good image for myself, is that progress is more like a rubber band ball if the bands were one continuous timeline. That is how I see progress.

This ties in a lot with failure being part of the process. Failure is just another bend, another twist in the life of progress. It is not backwards, but forwards, sometimes in an unexpected direction.

Closing

I hope this helps you. If you already have come to the same conclusion I hope it reminds you of the truth. I hope those who read this can take away at least this one thing, “Stop being so damn hard on yourself.” Everyone’s life, everyone’s change, everyone’s progress is going to look very different, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Embrace the differences between each other. Help each other along the way.

The next time you decide to change something in your life, try and remember these three things: If you want change, make changes. Failure is part of the process. Progress is not linear. If you can remember these things along your way, for me at least, these things will ease the journey.

Sincerely,

Moonlit Sonata