It’s Never Too Late to Make a Change, Here’s How to Start Where You Are and Improve Your Well-being

I am not good with change. Lets start there. While I have experienced some life altering journeys like the loss of a dear friend to cancer, a car accident, and a move of house, there are still some changes that I have been avoiding. Why do we avoid change? I think one of the biggest reasons, is that it pushes us out of our comfort zone and into a place we have never been before. Can you relate?

There was a time, years ago, that I lost a bunch of weight and went down a few sizes. It felt super weird when people would give me compliments, it made me uncomfortable with all the attention I was getting (even though it was positive). At the time, I didn’t have the self-confidence to handle all the changes that I was going through. Eventually, I gained all the weight back and reverted back to my old comfortable habits. I just was not ready.

This is the change I’ve been avoiding: my weight loss. When you see my picture, you know that I am – whether you say plus sized, curvaceous, buxom, large boned – I’m overweight. I have been like this all my life, and it is something that I, sadly over time, have gotten used to.

I’ve now reached the point where enough is enough. The point where you know in your heart and soul you cannot live like this anymore. I need to take action.

It’s time to make a change!

I’m going to challenge this head on and come out on top. I am done with being sore and tired all the time. I’m done with worrying about trying new places like theatres, concerts and sporting games because I don’t know if I can fit in the seats comfortably. I’m tired of the fact that I can only buy clothes from one or two retailers and even then, clothes don’t really fit nicely (they just “cover up”). I’m tired of doing the elevator math (if you don’t know what that means, count your blessings). And yes, even as an adult, I’m tired of being bullied for my weight and how I look. 

This will be the biggest challenge in my life and by far the hardest. I’m overwhelmed just thinking about it and I could go into all the cliches of “A journey starts with a single step”, but it’s going to take a lot more than that. This is a massive overhaul of everything I’ve ever known, but I’m excited to start tackling this change I’ve been avoiding for so long, and hopefully you feel inspired to take on your very own challenge. 

So where do I start? A question I’ve been asking myself lately. 

I turned to my friends and family for advice. Everyone had something different to say: get a fitbit, positive self talk, meal plan, keep moving, don’t be hard on yourself if the day does not go as planned, celebrate the small wins, plan things out, lots of water, and my personal favorite: own it!

With all of this great advice, needless to say, I definitely have the right support system to be successful this time around. It’s important to surround yourself with an encouraging group of people because it’s so important to have people in your corner cheering you on.

With all of the great advice I received,  I narrowed my pathway to success down to 3 areas:

1) Mindset

2) Eating right

3) Exercise 

Sounds simple? Yup. Is simple? Nope, Not in the least, but it is possible!

Here’s how I’ve started my journey so far…

I bought a new pair of runners. The old pair were worn right to the bones, so it was obvious I needed to get a new pair. My procrastination powers are strong and I kept putting it off for as long as I could. The lack of support in the old pair were destroying my feet and the need to walk in comfort started to out-rank my pursuit of procrastination. I needed to change my mindset and take action, rather than putting my body through daily discomfort.

It’s amazing how this one small and easy adjustment has changed my daily well-being. My feet feel happily supported now and my knees don’t hurt as much.

Ask yourself this: What is one little change you would feel comfortable making in your daily routine that would improve your life for the better?

Why did I put off this one change for so long? Clothes shopping is hard enough, shoe shopping is worse. But I lucked out and got a great pair. 

Now that I have new runners, I’ve noticed a change in my daily activity, I have started walking more, increasing my overall exercise. No marathons or anything, but I intentionally get off the bus stop early to add a few more blocks here and there.

This may be a subtle change, but the walking is helping me sleep a bit better too. I hadn’t even thought of my sleeping patterns before this! Better sleep means that I can keep a positive mindset. 

More energy means I have actually started walking to my local market again. I enjoy the market’s fresh fruits and veggies, and I always see the squash on sale which gets me thinking, I should really learn how to cook that. Looking at all the market fresh items, inspires me to eat better foods. As much as I hate to admit it, I am a horrible cook which makes me feel inspired to take a few cooking classes in the near future.

Change does not have to be this one single grandiose thing we do in our life. Change can be as simple as a new pair of runners.